Death by Diamonds and Dior
by MsKittyCullen
Summary: Aurora is a fashion-crazed, outgoing young woman. When she meets notorious playboy Edward Cullen who owns a multi-million pound company, she finds him charming but arrogant, but will she give in to him and his seductive ways? definite lemons, OC,AU.
1. Worse than Primarni

**Disclaimer: Stephanie Meyer owns Twilight and characters**

**So I wanted to try something more racier and adult. Alhough this also has a bit of fluff, to make it light and frothy.**

**I have created another one of my characters, just a warning as I know some people arn't big fans of original characters as the main character, but it would be nice if you gave it a go as I think it has potential.**

** Thank you to my beta reader, ohgeekyone, she's brill at proofreading which makes her God.**

**haha, yes so enjoy m'dears!**

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I held the Chanel bag carefully up to my nose to breathe in the lambskin leather, and then I exhaled. Why have children when you can have Chanel?

I'd practically begged my parents to buy me this bag for my 21st birthday and they'd soon caved in. They'd told me, "_Aurora this is one of your last birthday gifts. From now on it's a card with a twenty pound note," _or something that resembled that. I couldn't quite remember at that moment, as my eyes were indulging into the classic black quilted lambskin with the two golden 'C's interlocked with each other. This was probably the most expensive bag I had ever acquired, although let me get this straight – I was not spoilt. Well, only on birthdays. Although, it was my _21__st__. You're only 21 once. _

I complimented my worshipped Chanel bag with my Rosie Print Body-con dress from Topshop - unfortunately, I couldn't always be designer-dolled-up, although the women(/bitches) at Selfridges think I should be. I just prayed they wouldn't ask me who my dress was by because they could get really pissy when it came to not being kitted out with labels, especially when you're working in the Super brand section like me.

I remembered this one time when one of the girls who worked on our floor wore a t-shirt from Primark. When our manager, Hillary, saw her, we thought she was going to have a heart attack. She ordered her to go home and not to come back in until she stopped posing as a tramp. It was pretty harsh to be honest; she was a lovely girl. But I'd always taken to heart the line: 'The only thing worse than being skint is looking as if you're skint' – Linda Grant. Subsequent to this advice, I had spent more on clothes than food. My flat was not ideal for a dinner party. I think I could manage beans on toast for three. I can't save money for shit, and the supermarket I had to go to these days was the food supermarket equivalent of Primark – yes, _Aldi._

I slipped my black blazer over my dress and pushed my feet into my Prada black flats which I'd had for a while now, although I knew _Hillary _was getting tired of them. I made sure I turned my straighteners off and had another safe glance over my outfit to see if I looked okay. I scuffed my short ash blonde hair a little to add volume and retouched on my red rouge lipstick. Okay – now I was ready to go. So I shot off out of the door and reached the busy, bustling streets of Manchester where everyone walked like they were on a mission and carefully kept shut out from the world and buried in their own thoughts.

I didn't have to go to work until midday - so that meant I had an hour and a half to go shopping. A great pastime for the girl who was slowly going into the reds on her bank statement.

I totted off into Urban Outfitters and placed my hands along the slogan T-shirts with different bands on them. I thought they were cool, but pretty unsuitable for work, and since I spend the majority of my time either working or going out and painting the town red, I didn't really have the time to wear things like that.

I looked through the jumpsuits, shorts, shoes and the cute quirky accessories. It was hard; they were begging me to buy them. In the end I bought some 'Neon Harlequin_' _over-the-knee socks, so it wasn't a total defeat _and_ it didn't make a huge indentation in my credit card.

Although I didn't know when I would wear them…

My next stop was All Saints_, _although I barely left that shop unscathed. I had a bikini on my wish list from there, _because I really have a holiday booked this summer…_

And then I took a trip into Flannels, with the staff eyeing me up. So I carefully tried to flaunt the Chanel sign on my bag, and as soon as their eyesight's caught the famous sign they became warm and friendly with the whole, 'Can I help you madam?' charade - see, this bag had powers!

After all that window shopping I really needed to retire at the local Starbucks. I had the unsettling thought of work in half an hour - great. I walked into the cafe around the corner from work and the warmth gushed onto my skin. It was busy, as per, and I started to queue up for an overcharged coffee. Today I fancied a much needed mocha to boost the life in me.

My eyes lingered over the different kinds of cakes - should I buy one? _Yes, Aurora you should. _No I shouldn't. I had to stick to my diet.

I kept chanting that in my head whilst I waited in the absurdly long queue.

I started to unconsciously tap at my Chanel handbag whilst in the queue and when it occurred to me to what I was doing; I gasped and rubbed it better – like it was a person. If I wasn't in public, I'm sure I would have apologised to the bag too.

I was waiting in that queue for what? Nearly fifteen minutes? All I wanted was a drink - it was not like I was asking for them to reincarnate Jesus.

When (_finally_!) the person in front of me was at the till I took my hundredth glance at the lemon meringue cheesecake. It looked so tempting, it looked so delicious, it looked so _mine._

Suddenly I felt somebody shuffle beside me. I looked up to find a tall man getting into the queue in front of me. I felt my blue eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. Who did he think he was? My annoyance over this twanged inside me; I really ought to say something to this rude man.

"Ahem, excuse me?" I said timidly.

_Great Aurora, I'm sure you're really going to tell him with that voice._

The man still stood their boldly. So I raised my hand and gave him a sharp prod on his shoulder. He turned around slowly and my breath hitched for a moment.

I knew exactly who he was, I mean who didn't? He was definitely familiar, from his bronze tousled hair to his defined strong jaw line. He was wearing a dark grey Armani business suit with a crisp white shirt underneath and a smooth black tie. He did look dazzling.

He was Edward Cullen, the American King of the Business world. He owned a multi-million pound chain of restaurants……or it could have been department stores. I couldn't remember but I knew he was rich as hell, but he was notoriously known for being a bit of a playboy.

After the couple of seconds of me just standing there, mesmerised, it suddenly hit me. He thought he could push in because he was some kind of big shot. Behaviour like that was just disgraceful.

"Excuse me!" I said sharper this time, feeling my annoyance burning in my chest. "The end of the queue is down there!"

His majestic emerald eyes stared at me innocently.

"I'm sorry about that, and I hope you don't mind, but I'm in a rush," he said coolly, as if it was ok that if you were 'in a rush' you could just jump the queue.

"Yes, I'm in a rush too and I've been here for the past…twenty minutes," I explained cutting each word into him. I don't know why I bothered because he seemed to have this defence shield up and he kept his handsome smile strong around the edges of his mouth.

"Great, so you can empathise with my situation," he replied sweetly, in a kind of patronising way. _What a wanker_! I thought.

"Get to the back of the queue," I snapped at him. He laughed lazily and shook his head gently and the woman at the register started to take his order and I just stood there – annoyed, mainly, that I had lost this battle.

"One black coffee and a lemon meringue cheesecake, please," he told the woman at the register politely. She was stunned by who she was serving and tried to keep a smile plastered on her face; but she looked like she was going to hyperventilate.

"Erm, of course, yes s-sure Mr. Cullen!" She stammered out. Edward looked pretty smug about this and he flashed her his gorgeous grin.

I was stood there, gob smacked at his behaviour. I looked at the woman who was serving him; she was jittering around like a beetle on ecstasy. Bless her. Then she arrived back to the arrogant arse hole in front of me.

"Here you are, Sir! And it was the last lemon meringue cheese cake too!"

Now I was fuming. That was exactly what I wanted and he took the last piece!

_He was a pusher _and_ a thief!_

Although he didn't seem to care as he collected his coffee and _my_ cheesecake, and he politely said thank you to the girl who served him, then swivelled around and caught my brooding eyes – well I thought they were brooding, since I was at my peak of being pissed off.

He smirked and raised his cup at me.

The. Fucking. Cheek.

He soon walked off in hurry and out of the door. I stood there, feeling so insulted.

"Excuse me?" I heard the girl call out towards me. I looked back at her, feeling flustered. She must have said that a couple of times because she looked like she was starting to grow impatient.

"Oh – sorry! Could I have one mocha please….and you don't possibly have another piece of lemon meringue cheesecake?" I asked

"Sorry, we just sold the last piece to that man," she started off, and then she got giggly. "You'll never guess who it was…..only Edward Cullen!"

"Oh really," I replied in the most uninterested voice I could pull off.

She obviously didn't detect this.

"Yeah! Don't you think he is so handsome! Especially in the flesh!"

_Oh, so she was the reason for the slow queue._

"Really? Hmmm, I don't know. He kind of reminds me of a squirrel, you know with the hair and everything. Although I think I would prefer the animal," I told her, and then shone a bittersweet smile.

Her eyes widened for a moment, she obviously thought I was mental. Oh well.

"Right…..well I'll just go get your order, unless you want another type of cake?" She asked.

"No, I'll get to sleep tonight just knowing that _Edward Cullen_ is munching on my fave."

With that she sauntered off and prepared my over priced mocha and then I sat down on one of the vacant chairs – although there weren't many so I squeezed on one of the high stools which I hated.

I resumed my time in Starbucks sipping at my mocha in silence, coming up with all the comebacks I should have said to Edward. Why was it that you always thought of the things you should have said when the time to say them is over?!

It was so aggravating.

With two minutes to go I downed my drink and rushed off to my beloved Selfridges (yeah, right).

I was soon in the department store and went into the staff room. I zapped in my card which had a picture of me on it for identification. I looked like a terrorist in the picture…..nice!

I put my Chanel bag in my locker and hung up my blazer before entering the top floor where I worked on the Super Brands.

I was basically a shop assistant, although my formal title was 'Fashion consultant.' I quite liked that as it made me sound so much more important than I was. Most of the normal customers were fooled by the title and if I picked the outfit they would most likely want, they bought it.

As I commenced towards my section on the top floor, there was something different in the air. It was like something had gone off and I hated not being in on it. All the workers in their different concessions were secretly chatting if they weren't serving a customer. I decided to shake it off; I was sure Rosalie would tell me later anyway. Well, if it was something big.

I walked into my working area and saw Rosalie tidying a rail. I also noted that there was no sight of Hillary – thank God.

Rosalie turned to look at me and gave me a wave of her hand; she was currently supporting a Karen Millen giraffe print dress with some black chunky high heels.

Rosalie was an absolute stunner and I was not just saying that because she was my best friend. In fact, I shouldn't say it at all because she _so_ knew it. She had it all – blonde hair, blue eyes and a fabulous body to match. I guessed you could describe me like that, except she is curvaceous and toned and I, on the other hand, am skinny. I had done a couple of modelling jobs before for Stella McCartney and Rosalie did modelling as well, but she did more jobs than me. She was mainly a lingerie model, which was not to be confused for a page three girl. I wasn't into the whole modelling business anyway; I would much prefer to be working in fashion.

Rosalie was a Grade-A man-eater. I remembered the first time we went out for drinks - she must have flirted with a dozen men. She had simple rules: if she got bored she would move on, but if not, they'd both move on somewhere else. That's what Rosalie was like: she didn't take shit and she didn't hang about unless something good came out of it.

"Rosie!" I greeted her in a singing style.

"Hello! Did we have a nice sleep in today?"

"Yeah, wasn't too bad, but I decided to do a little window shopping."

She looked at me like a disapproving mother.

"You just can't let that credit card gather dust, can you?" She asked rhetorically, trying not to quirk a smile.

"Ah, the art of not spending…" I mused.

"It's not an art, babe! It's pure torture!" I heard a familiar male's voice say.

I looked over to see who it was: my gay boyfriend, Seth. I'd known Seth since I started working here – same with Rosalie. He was tall and lean; you could instantly tell he was gay because he had that feminine walk. He had gorgeous brown glossy hair to die for! And beady brown eyes to match with a cute button nose. He'd always reminded me of Mark from _Ugly Betty._ I could remember the first time we'd talked; I'd been nervously standing on the shop floor by myself trying to look professional when I felt a presence creep behind me to whisper something in my ear.

"Have you seen that woman's outfit over there?….That skirt makes her bum look like a sack of potatoes and her top just radiates 'I live on the red light district'." I couldn't stop laughing, and we hit it off from there. Short story, but sweet...in a weird way.

But back to the present.

"Hey Seth. Ooh! I like your shirt!" I complimented him on his long-sleeved, jet black D&G shirt.

"God, I spent half of my wage slip on this!" As he said it he slid hand down his shirt, modelling the item.

"Well, fashion kudos to you!" Rosalie pointed out.

"OhmyGod, you'll never guess who I saw in Starbucks today!" I announced, feeling fury streaming out of my words as I remembered the incident.

"Britney Spears?!" Seth shrieked.

_What?!_

"Err…no, but if I did, Seth, I would have gotten her to sign a Starbuck's napkin for you," I told him patting his arm with a silly smile.

"Aw, thanks hon. I'd do the same for you if I saw Enrique Iglesias." _Mmm, Enrique._ "So go on, who was this mystery person…it best be somebody good!" Seth said whilst gently tapping me on the shoulder.

I waited for a second to enjoy the anticipation in their eyes.

"Edward Cullen," I slowly proclaimed.

Then for some reason, their eyes fell and lost the excitement they just held a minute ago.

"And you know what?! He is the rudest man I've ever met! I was in the Starbucks queue, _and you know how long it takes sometimes in that queue,_ and I really wanted to buy a lemon meringue cheesecake, so--"

"You do you know how many calories are in one of those, don't you?!" Rosalie interrupted, horrified.

"Let me finish my story!" I snapped back.

She simply rolled her eyes.

"Well, anyway, I decided I would treat myself and then I felt somebody shove me out of the way!" Okay, maybe a bit over-dramatic there. "So I looked up, and it was _the_ Edward Cullen, looking all high-and-mighty, so do you know what I did?" I was now talking at a 1000 words a second pace.

"What?" They answered in unison.

"I told him exactly where to go! You know, just because he's a celebrity doesn't mean he's better than everyone else!" Both of their mouths were now gaping at me – impressed I hope. I _did _feel pretty proud of myself. "So he was like 'Well I'm in a rush, blah blah, I'm a twat, blah blah' and he just… flounced out! I'd like to think something I'd said had gotten through to him but I doubt it. I'll tell you what, though, if I ever see him again it'll be too soon!" I huffed, declaring that it was the end of my rant.

They were still staring at me, and then Rosalie bit her lip trying not to laugh, but Seth being Seth was in a fit of giggles.

"What?" I questioned.

"It's just an amusing story," Rosalie told me, still foolishly grinning.

I could tell that wasn't it but I had a job to do and if Hillary caught us she would go mental.

"Okay well, I've been here for nearly ten minutes so I better start doing some work," I sighed.

I walked around the floor, keeping an eye out for customers looking for help. I made sure the clothes on the rails were in size order and that there was no outcast items which had clumsily been put back by a potential customer because they couldn't be bothered to put it on the proper rail. It was a tough job to sell £1500 dresses, so we always needed to be on alert when somebody was browsing and give them good advice. Although these days, trade was hard.

When there were no customers in sight, I went to the back of the counters and Rosalie and I had a chat since nobody was looking. We always kept an up to date issue of '_Heat' _magazine behind the counter so we could talk about celebrity happenings.

"Oh God, have you seen what Lady GaGa is wearing?!" Rosalie screeched, pointing to the page.

"Oh bless her, she looks like she's fallen out of a wardrobe trying to find Narnia," I said scrutinizing the picture.

"Shit, Aurora, Mr. Jenks is coming this way and he's looking at us," Rosalie whispered, hurriedly stowing the magazine away for future use. I decided to surreptitiously edge away from Rosalie so it didn't look like we were talking. I needed to look professional: _back straight and shoulders back, and don't forget the Selfridge's smile! _

I felt nervous as he approached me. Had I done anything wrong except for the occasional talk time? I couldn't think of anything I had done wrong, was it the Topshop dress?

_No, Aurora – that's slightly extreme_.

If you didn't guess, Mr. Jenks was the manager of managers. So he was in charge of Manchester's Selfridges. And he was one step away from me.

"Hello, Aurora," he addressed me.

"Uh, hi Mr Jenks."

"You might be wondering why I'm coming to talk to you," he started to explain.

_Oh, just get to the point._

"Well as you weren't here this morning I have some news for you – don't worry, it's nothing too serious," he told me, trying to smile, but whenever he did all his face just kind of creased up. It was -- urgh.

"Okay…" I shortly responded.

"We have somebody in for the next few….well, we aren't sure yet, but basically he's here to inspect the place and Selfridges want you to treat him with the utmost respect – like he was your boss."

"Um, okay." Was 'okay' the only thing I could come out with today?

"Good! Ah, he's over there now in Hermez. I think you girls will be very excited to find out who he is," he joked.

I tried to smile at his attempt as I looked over to where he was staring.

Bollocks.

Shit.

_Fuck._

I wished the floor would swallow me whole.

Of course. It was just my luck.

It was Edward Cullen.

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**What do you think?**

**Please leave reviews, as I have another chapter on hold. **

**Also, just want to mention that Aurora is inspired by my older sister, Alice, as she wanted her own character. (:  
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	2. Tripping in my Mary Janes

**Disclaimer: SM owns Twilight and characters.**

**A/N:  
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**I already had written this chapter, I hope you like it. If you want any pictures of anything - just PM.**

**If you have any questions - just PM.**

**Of course, a massive thanks to ohgeekyone. If I was you, when you have finished reading this you should definitely read one of her stories.**

**She's on my favourite authors list. (;  
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**Kitty.**

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My eyesight flickered to Rosalie sending a distressed signal, she'd obviously just figured out what we were talking about and was desperately trying to muffle her laughter.

"He'll come over later to introduce himself and probably ask a few questions, so you and Rosalie – be on alert!" Mr Jenks urged me.

_Keep on the Selfridges smile, Aurora._

"Yes, Sir," I said through my gritted teeth smile.

"Great, well, keep up the good work," he said, beaming his slimy grin at me, and then he turned around and plodded off to some other defenceless worker who wasn't on mornings.

I turned to Rosalie who was all watery eyed from not trying to burst out laughing.

"Rosalie, why didn't you tell me?!" I hissed.

"Why would I want to have missed that face?" She practically exploded giggling "I ...I mean, it was just pure gold! Seth is going to be upset that he wasn't here!"

"Cheers," I replied sarcastically.

It would have been lovely if Rosalie gave me a heads up, but obviously she would've preferred to have seen me go into battle with no ammo. My mind was going through what had just happened………._I have to treat him like a boss!_ In other words, I was going to be his new dog who he could give orders to. The thought just infuriated me – what was he doing here?

"Why is he here anyway?" I abruptly asked Rosalie.

She just shrugged.

"I haven't got a clue, but I'll tell you something for free…..Hillary left this morning," she told me in a hushed tone as she kept herself looking busy on the counter, but as she brought this juicy information up, her eyes widened like she had been waiting to tell me since I arrived.

I could feel my jaw drop.

I wasn't a huge fan of Hillary, but she had been here ever since I joined the Selfridges team. She was always around the floor, being controlling and bossy, so I suppose in a sense I was relieved she'd left….. but, I have to admit, some of the things she came out with w_ere_ funny.

I just couldn't understand why she'd left? She loved her job!

"You're kidding me?!" I eventually came around to saying. Rosalie just slowly shook her head and her golden blonde hair gently swayed.

"I don't know what happened, but she just stormed out of Mr. Jenks office this morning, screaming and shouting, letting the floor know she isn't staying……you know, Aurora, something big has gone off this morning." She looked deadly serious.

"You're telling me!" I said incredulously "How come all the good stuff goes off when I'm not around?" I moaned.

My mind cast back to a day when I wasn't in, and a girl who worked in the handbags area found out that Justin Timberlake was in the building. You see, Selfridges have a rule - we can't get autographs from celebrities and we have to maintain a highly professional manner whilst serving them; as we do get many WAGs and soap celebrities rummaging through the shop. Anyway, when she found out he was on the ground floor – nothing could stop her. She started girlishly screaming (or so I heard) and ran down to go and hug him or something along those lines, but when she reached the ground floor, security was already on her case. Before she even got to the sexy JT she was being manhandled out of the shop. _Bless her._

Rosalie just smirked at me with her perfect plump lips.

"I don't know….maybe, you keep the peace?" She said thoughtfully, and then she laughed again. "Actually Aurora, I take that back. It slipped my mind how you like to attack queue jumpers."

"Rosie, I was the victim in that situation!" I said, being all melodramatic.

"Sure, if I was you, I think you should keep the claws away when he comes up here. Well, if you want to keep your job."

"Thanks for the advice." I sarcastically retorted.

With that, I walked over to a Chinese woman to offer my helpful services as she was vigorously going through some Roland Mouret cocktail dresses. God, some people have no respect for fashion.

An hour later I sold my first item of the day, after having to go through many dresses with a customer, and then chasing around to get bigger sizes for the woman. After that I did the usual standing around and secretly flicking through _Heat_ magazine.

And then it was the dreaded moment. Rosalie rushed over, telling me that 'you know who' was coming over for a grand old interrogation.

I looked up and saw the smug face on Mr Cullen as he strode forward.

"I think he saved us until last," Rosalie whispered to me.

"Well, obviously saving the _best_ until last." I winked back at her.

We both stood up straight and got our game faces on. God, I hated him. I watched him, as he was smoothly walking up to us like we should be kissing the ground he trod upon. I had to remember to be polite or not get so wound up.

_Remember Aurora, you are above him. Well, mentally above him_.

"Hello, ladies," he greeted us. Ugh, how sly.

"Good afternoon, Sir," Rosalie replied – a little suggestively. _Trust Rosalie_.

"Afternoon," I said slightly monotonously. Okay, I know I need to be polite but it's hard.

He looked back at me and gave me a once over, he had a very business like stare. It was kind of cold, like the kind of 'I take no shit' look.

"I think we met earlier," he noted, still maintaining his stare at me; I could feel my height decreasing by the second.

"Yes, we did," I answered slowly but stamping each word down, and of course I didn't forget…..Selfridges smile!

"I hope you left your attitude outside of the work place," he told me flatly.

"Yes, Sir," I reluctantly answered. What attitude? He was a bloody queue jumper! Ugh!

He cracked a smile when I said 'Sir'. Ugh! He might as well put me on a leash!

"So you know a lot about fashion then?" He asked me.

"That's why they hired me." _Obviously._

"Okay then, go on, and enlighten me."

"What?" I asked, confused as hell. What did he want to know?

"What's your name?" He suddenly asked. Why _not_ answer and question with a question?!

"Aurora Samuels." Mr Cullen nodded like he was storing my face and name in his head.

"Right, Aurora, which item of clothing is…big at the moment?" he asked me like I was being graded.

It was a pretty easy question though.

"The Balmaine jacket is the jacket to have. It's a blazer with shoulder pads, which is very in at the moment as the 80s era is back in fashion," I explained.

"Well, shouldn't you have one?" He asked like I should be setting the standard. _God, he knew nothing._

Sure, I would love a Balmaine jacket if I had the cash: the jacket was positively gorgeous.

"Yeah, I might get one when I have a spare three grand lying around," I sarcastically replied. His attitude was seriously grating on me now.

He just looked at me like I was dirt. "Of course."

Patronising wanker!

He looked over to Rosalie.

"And your name?"

"Rosalie Hale, Sir," she told him with a flirty tone.

I rolled my eyes. I wondered if _the_ Edward Cullen would fall for Rosalie's snare.

"What are your targets?" He asked. This was all so boring now.

"Five thousand every week," Rosalie answered and then she flicked her hair.

I started to drum my nails on the counter watching the exchange.

"Well as you know, I'm Edward Cullen and I'll be here for a while, just act like you normally do, if that's not too much to ask." His eyesight flickered to me and then straight back to Rosalie.

"Of course not, it's a _pleasure_ to have you here," Rosalie sweetly answered.

I think I would have been doing exactly the same as Rosalie if I didn't have the episode in Starbucks, but it happened, and I had a cold hard grudge growing. I mean, looking at Edward Cullen, he was everything I would have liked in a man: tall, gorgeous, lean but muscular, nice complexion, and sexy hair with that rugged type look and of course he was successful.

If only he wasn't a womanising prick.

"I'm glad we have introduced ourselves – oh and by the way Aurora," he stared straight into my eyes which was kind of chilling and intimidating. "Drop the petulant teenage act." Then he turned on his heel and casually walked off.

He left me standing there, in absolute disbelief and when I finally turned to look at Rosalie she had the same expression written on her face.

"Who the fuck does he think he is?" I hissed.

She quirked her eyebrow at me.

"Well, Edward Cullen," she answered simply.

I folded my arms as I watched him go about, I couldn't help but huff.

"Aurora, I don't think you're in his good books," Rosalie stated.

"Well I don't give a shit!" I snapped back, _although I kind of did._

Her eyes dropped to be more sympathetic – see, that's the look I needed earlier!

"Awh, look, I tell you what…we can meet up tonight and get ourselves a stiff drink or two and we can have a good old bitch about the ice queen that is Edward Cullen." She comforted me and I couldn't help but snigger.

The rest of the day went quickly; I had two more sales which was good for a Thursday. But the day wasn't great; the whole Edward Cullen situation had really put a dampener on everything. I managed to stay out of his way but I was really worked up. He was just so rude, I could have slapped that fucking smug smile right off his face. But my inner peace classes taught me that what goes around comes around and that dick head certainly had some bad karma on his hands.

Even when Seth and I were in the store room and he did the Beyonce – 'Single Ladies' dance (Seth was a huge Beyonce fan and he knew the routine off by heart). Okay, I'm not going to lie – I laughed and especially when he became a real diva and started pouting, and when he got into the line 'if you liked it then you shoulda put a ring on it' he was dancing straight up in my face, flapping his left hand flamboyantly. He did make me happy and forget about that man who I loathed so much, but as soon as I got out back to my working area, he would be chatting up one of the girls on the Paul's Boutique concessions and that would remind me how I had to endure an absolute rat like him!

When my working day finally came to an end, I collected my stuff and then practically ran out of Selfridges. As I reached the pavement, I only saw my favourite person – Edward Cullen, going into his limousine which was obediently waiting for him. He looked at me and gave me one of his filthy stares.

I tried to give him a glare which meant to have read 'don't you dare look at me like that you little son of a bitch, or I'll ring up that hitman which apparently my mother claims she knows, but we don't believe her, but I would definitely find him and your name will be on top of his list' – or was that a little particular?

It didn't work though. He didn't even react.

That angered me even more.

***

I arrived back to my lonely flat. It never used to be lonely. I hated spending amounts of time on my own here. It held too many memories.

I sighed: it sounded long, annoyed and stressed. I chucked my keys on the kitchen counter and seized a can of Carlsburg out of the fridge and poured it in a tall glass and added some lime juice – larger and lime is godly. I didn't know about waiting until later to have a drink because I certainly needed one _now_.

My flat had one bedroom, one bathroom and a long room which held my kitchen, dining table and television and sofa together. I could only just afford it, although some months I can barely cut it. You see, I didn't start renting this flat on my own.

Those were thoughts I hated to dwell upon.

I didn't have time to go flat hunting; this was a good flat even though it had its down sides. It was central and it was a safe apartment block plus it had a concierge. There would be no way I could get another place like this which was close to my work, well there was but I didn't have the money.

I drunk half of my beer then decided I should have a shower, so I placed my beer back into the fridge. The shower was hot as it struck down my back. I mainly stood there for ten minutes just thinking. I should do less thinking in the shower then maybe my water bills wouldn't be as high. Afterwards I felt better, more refreshed. I draped my light pink Japanese style dressing gown over me and combed my hair back.

As I was applying toner on my face my phone started bleeping, yelling for me to pick it up. I hated when I was getting ready and my phone rung. So I rushed out of the bathroom to answer it.

"Hello?" I answered, slightly out of breath.

"Hello sweetie, you alright?" It was my mum doing her daily telephone.

"I've had better days," I groaned.

"Oh dear – what's happened?"

"Oh you know, got this boss type who is lurking around my floor and he's a right arse," I complained

"Aurora Samuels! It's bottom – not 'arse'!" My mum scolded me.

I rolled my eyes for like the billionth time today.

"Err…mum. I'm twenty-one, I can say what I like, and it's not a great insult calling somebody a 'bottom'."

"But it's so vulgar!"

I just sighed.

"Well dear, remember your manners, even if this boss of yours isn't idyllic. You need all the money you can get if you're staying in that apartment," she told me.

"Yes I know," I sighed.

"Good, so go on and tell me, why is he a bottom?" She asked me so seriously, I couldn't help but laugh.

So I told her about that morning and how he was Edward Cullen. She actually didn't know who he was, and she wouldn't let me go until she had Googled him. That took her at least twenty minutes as she couldn't work a computer to save her life, but when she saw a photo of him she did one of the 'Ooo' noises. She told me I should put aside my differences and get on with it, and maybe if all is forgotten I should bag him. I felt disgusted by the thought, okay not entirely disgusted, but still.

And then I really had to go as I was going to meet Rosalie in half an hour. My hair was nearly dried but because I didn't blow dry it I had a kink in my fringe. _Dear me, my mum definitely knows when to ring up. _

After I de-kinked my fringe, I hastily started to paste on the foundation and after, I took my cold beer which I left in the fridge and glugged it down.

After I did that I checked the time again, another twenty-two minutes, I slipped on my black Vivienne Westwood Anglomania wrap dress and paired it up with some sheer black tights and some plain black platform Mary Jane's. I had a black colour theme going on, _as you can tell_. I finally applied some bright red lipstick, mascara and then some smoky black eye shadow on my bottom eyelid.

When I perfected everything I grabbed my Chanel bag and chucked in my mobile, purse, lipstick and keys. Before I went out I squirted some D-Squared perfume and then finally left, with only thirteen minutes to go.

I started walking in my highs, hoping I wouldn't tumble over and look like an idiot. I think God finally heard my prayers as I arrived into the Simple bar with happy ankles. The Simple bar was nestled in the Northern Quarter of Manchester and Rosalie and I always met up there because all the Selfridges staff gets a buy one get one free on drinks.

As expected Rosalie wasn't there, and to think, I was rushing out to be on time. I checked the time on my mobile, I actually had two minutes to spare. So I decided to order me and Rosie some drinks, which I think would be much appreciated on her behalf.

I decided to order an 'Alabama Slammer' for me, which consisted of Southern Comfort, amaretto and sloe gin. Then I looked down the menu to see what Rosie would like, the side of my lips curled up into an immature smile. I'm sure there were lots of drinks which Rosalie would like guessing by their names, but I just settled on the 'Pineapple Flirtini' which was a mixture of champagne, vodka, martini and pineapple juice. _I can see myself getting very drunk tonight._

I delivered them on one of the small coffee tables with brown leather chairs surrounding it. I placed the drinks down and slumped into the chair and had a sip of my Alabama Slammer whilst scanning the room for talent. There were quite a few good looking guys out tonight, and the joy of having Rosalie as a best friend is that they will come and talk to us.

Rosalie casually entered the room with a pearly pink lipstick pout on; she was wearing a stunning Alexander McQueen grey pleated Jersey dress and she worked the room in it. Her parents were pretty well off and I was so jealous how she always flounced about it the latest designer gear.

"Rosie," I gently called out and gave her a little wave.

She looked at me and bared me a gigantic grin showing off her pearly whites.

"Hi!" She responded and settled in a chair next to me.

"I bought you a Pineapple Flirtini!" I exclaimed.

"Awh, thanks, I haven't had one in ages." And with that she brought it up to her lips and subtly downed half of it.

"Steady on, Rosie," I advised.

"Oh come on Aurora, we are out to have fun! So come on, drink up!"

"Fine," I smirked and I took about three gulps of my Alabama slammer.

"You know, it's your round next," I told her.

"Fine with me - so are we going to have a good bitch about Edward now?" Rosalie always loved a 'good bitch' or gossip; she knew nearly everything about everyone.

"Oh God, that bloody name! It's all I've heard today," I breathed. "I bet you anything, by the end of next week he will have slept with the MAC girls." I took a few more slurps of my drink.

She started giggling. "Well, it's not hard. I mean, Emmett has done it."

"Slags." We agreed in unison. And then Rosalie knocked down the rest of her drink, and I managed to drink the last few drops of mine.

"So then, have you taken up Emmett's offer on that date yet?" I asked inquisitively.

Emmett was Rosalie's equal; he was tall, muscular, funny and simply gorgeous. He had been asking Rosie out on dates for the past month or so, and she had said no multiple times, but he wasn't giving up. I thought it was kind of romantic. I did understand the reason why she wouldn't, Emmett had a bit of a reputation for having lots of different girls on the go and Rosie _didn't_get messed about. If she did it, it would probably make a large mark on her ego and I would hate to see that happen, but I thought he was genuinely interested, and I also thought everyone should take risks now and again.

"Pfft, God no," she answered, but she couldn't stop smiling by the question.

"Come on Rosie, you have to give the poor man some credit with his persistence. He seems nice and don't tell me you don't like him!"

She just grinned then shook her head.

"Okay then, what's going to be drink number two?" She asked. We looked down the cocktail menu.

"I haven't had a 'Blow Job' before," she announced seriously.

I looked up to her and quirked an eyebrow.

"That's not what I've heard Rosie."

She gave me one of those 'I can't believe you just said that' looks but then she started giggling, giving me a gentle slap on my shoulder.

At the end, she did order a Blow Job and I picked a 'Long Island Iced Tea' and they were soon drunk up. We had a couple of guys come up to us but Rosalie wasn't interested and cruelly dismissed them. After, we decided it was time to move onto another bar. As I stood up I felt the percentage streaming up into my head and I started to feel the alcoholic anaesthetic digging in. _I wish I had something to eat earlier._

We decided to go to our favourite pub, Corbieres. It was a homely Manchester pub which was located in a cellar. It had a jukebox which only played Manchester bands like The Smiths or Joy Division so it carried out a down to earth cool-like atmosphere.

As we entered, we walked over to the booth where we always go, except for this time there were some people comfortably sat in our favourite places – well, it happens. But Rosalie casually kept on walking. I scrunched my eyes up to make out who it was, and when they looked in our direction I immediately recognized them.

It was Jasper and, speak of the devil, Emmett.

Jasper and I had been friends for ages; he'd been through a lot with me and he was definitely one of my closest friends. He had various jobs on the go; he worked for the BBC as a camera man, well when they needed him. He also promoted a lot of bands and was in his own band, but his dream job was to become a director. He was always telling me what films I should watch and I was always his partner to take to watch newly released films or going to small cinemas to watch independent films.

"Oh, I wondered who it was then!" I said louder than I intended to. _Yes, definitely on my way to being absolutely bladdered._

"Have you been out long?" Jasper asked.

"Oh, about an hour, I think," I told him, Jasper stood up and tightly pulled me into a hug and my face rubbed into his shirt. He smelt all… Jasper-y.

When he put me down he gave me a big cheesy grin.

"So what drinks do you two want then?" He asked us.

"I'll just have a peach schnapps and lemonade, please," I told Jasper

"A dry white wine for me Jasper," Rosalie demanded, and then her eyes lingered over Emmett as he casually sat back and relaxed on the sofa. When they gained each others eye contact his eyebrows suggestively rose at her. _God, he was gagging to get into her pants._

Rosalie and I scooted around the sofa of the booth.

"Emmett." Rosalie bluntly greeted him.

"Aurora, Rosie," he nodded at us. "You two girls are looking _very _nice tonight." And with that he winked at Rosie.

"I wish I could say the same thing to you," Rosalie said, curling a smile around her mouth.

This was the way it went when they were both in the same room: flirty banter, flirty stares, just _flirty._

"You keep telling yourself that," he grinned back at her.

"Yes, I'm fine, thanks for asking!" I interrupted as Rosalie and Emmett were seeping into their own world, their heads jolted back and Emmett shone me a lazy smile.

A tray of drinks hit the table with Jasper handing each one of us our drinks. I was pretty relieved when he turned up; it meant that I could laugh at Rosalie and Emmett without being on my own.

"Have you thought about being a waiter, just in case you felt like you wanted _another _job?" I winked at him. He took a swag of his bud before answering.

"Well, I have done a bit of waiting in my time," he answered.

"Surprise, surprise"

He just laughed.

"So then guys, we've taken Aurora-Flora out tonight because she needs to set some steam off due a certain newcomer to Selfridges today," Rosalie explained.

"Thanks for informing them Rosie," I sarcastically said.

"No problem baby!"

"I'm guessing this is Edward Cullen?" Jasper coolly asked.

I simply groaned by the name.

"Ahh right." Jasper chuckled.

"Awh, Eddie isn't too bad!" Emmett defended him.

I shot my eyes up to Emmett and Rosalie bit her lip but her eyes were filled with delight.

"Eddie? What are you already kissing his arse?!" I snapped at Emmett.

He held his hands up in surrender mode.

"Don't shoot!" He comically said.

"That 'Eddie' is the biggest prick alive."

"What? He's a legend!" Emmett said.

Now Rosalie snapped her head up at Emmett.

"Oh Emmett, and you were doing so well. I think that date is postponed," she declared gleefully.

"Oh come on babe, you don't mean that," Emmett said, stroking her hair.

Rosalie's head jolted back from his touch.

"Don't I?" She asked sternly.

I glanced over at Jasper who dropped his head back in quiet laughter. I couldn't help laughing too.

"I suppose that Edward Cullen is a bit of a prick," Emmett said trying to salvage the situation.

I laid back comfortably in the sofa, albeit, feeling smug. I took chugs out of my glass feeling the fizzy peachy taste running down my throat.

"So then, what's this guy done to piss you off so bad?" Jasper finally asked.

I drained the remains of my glass and slammed it back down on the table.

I took a deep breath in, and told the story, about this morning leading onto the 'petulant teenage act' insult. More drinks were ordered whilst I was bitching and I drank even more. Emmett and Rosalie started to whisper things to each other but Jasper was still listening intently. My words were starting to slur.

"Soooo anyway, he's a rude, veryyy rude, p-piece of shit!" I eventually declared.

"He does seem a prick," Jasper concurred.

"Thank you!" I said loudly "Anywayy, I think I need a piss!" I announced and then I snorted. Jasper bent his head down and shook his head, probably in disgrace at my un-lady likeness whilst Emmett just gave me a thumbs up.

As I got up I lost my balance slightly and staggered, with my arms stretched out, holding myself on the table.

"Oo Aurora the explorer… is gonna need support!" Rosie slurred her way through the sentence, finding that my name conveniently rhymed with that children's show. At least I wasn't the only one drunk.

"I'm fine!" I answered in a high pitch. "You see, I'm an independent ....w-woman!" I smirked.

As I returned back from the bathroom, a bit annoyed that my make up was smudged a little but I was too drunk to reapply, one of my favourite song's came on, it was Oasis – 'don't look back in anger'. I nearly squealed with excitement.

"Jasper, it's this song!" I announced and I picked my drink up and downed the rest.

He simply grinned at me and I bent down to rest my hands on his shoulders.

"This song will always, alwayyys remind me, of you and me, because, Jasper Whitlock! You're one of my best friends and I love you!" As I said that I fell right on his lap.

"What have you been drinking?" He laughed.

"Uhh, Miss Samuels! What's our song then?!" Rosalie practically shouted at me.

I just slung my head and smiled.

"Voulez vous coucher avec moi ce soir!" And I lifted my leg up thinking I was Satine or Christina.

And then my attention averted back to Jasper.

"You didn't tell me ya-you loved mee baaack!" I slurred out, and then put my finest pout on. Edward would describe it as a 'petulant pout'.

"Aurora, you know I love you," he chuckled, and then planted a kiss on my cheek.

"Good," I replied happily. It just occurred to me how inarticulate I was being, and I felt a little bit embarrassed, but I was over it soon enough.

"In fact, I love you so much that I'm going to take you home because I don't want you passing out somewhere," he told me, seriously.

"Oh Jasperrrrrrr!" My extending voice was officially on. "We're still going to Sanky's aren't we?" I asked.

"I think I'll take Rosalie back," Emmett said.

"Are you fuck, Emmett. I will get a taxi!" Rosalie just about shouted.

I collapsed in a fit giggles and flopped on the rest of the sofa.

"Come on, Aurora," Jasper said and he stood up and linked his hands with mine and pulled me to my feet. When I was up he hooked his arm around my waist and walked me back home, we made an emergency stop at the chip shop along the way, which I insisted was needed and then continued to walk back to my home.

"You know what's funny, Jasper?" I said.

"What?"

"I've got work at nine tomorrow morning," I confessed, giggling at the end.

"Well tell me how that goes then. If you're still drunk, maybe you could start a riot in the lingerie section – I'd pay to see that," he suggested jokingly.

"Pfft, and then Edward would tell me to stop being immature or something….you know what, he kind of scares me."

"That can't be possible," Jasper said shoving a chip in his mouth. I wasn't sure whether he was being sarcastic or serious.

"Hmmm," I replied. It was all I could say right now as I started feeling a lot worse for wear.

When we got to my flat block he gave me a tight hug, holding me close to him. It made me feel so safe and I missed having a man in my life, and it caused my mind to wonder onto more sinister things. A tear rolled down my cheek.

"Hey – what's up?" Jasper asked with a concerned tone.

"Just thanks Jasper, thank you for walking me home…and always being here," I whispered, trying to wipe the drunken tears off my face.

A small smile spread across his face and he placed a hand on my head and caressed my hair.

"You're always welcome, I'm just glad everything's better now."

"I'll never forget him though," I whispered.

"I know," he softly replied, and kissed me on my forehead.

I left Jasper and returned back to my flat, it took me about ten minutes to unlock the door. I stumbled in and slammed the door behind me, I could feel myself swaying around, not being able to control myself.

I slowly got into my pyjamas, jumping around the room which made me even dizzier. I decided to go and get a glass of water but as soon as I started to drink it – I had to run to the toilet. Throwing up everything I had in my stomach, more tears ran down my cheeks and I just decided to try and sleep it off, except my head was spinning like crazy.

I was going to have a rough day tomorrow.

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**Aurora might need reviews to recover...........**


	3. Lupfer Loves Lemon Zest

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Twilight characters.**

**So this is where the lemon.....zest comes in. It's my first time in doing anything remotley sexual, so please, feedback, I've had none. Except from my lovely beta. (:**

**Sounds like I'm begging.....it's because I am, haha!**

**So please, enjoy (:**

**

* * *

  
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'_Love Fool' _by the Cardigans rung out from my mobile, which had been annoyingly left in my bag and my bag was left on my night table. It was shouting at me like my mum used to do to get me up for school.

I let out a long reluctant groan and stretched my arm to claim my bag and started to fumble around to click my mobile off. And then another tiresome groan followed as I saw the time – 8.15.

I raised myself up to get out of bed. I was suddenly aware of the banging in my head; it was like someone was using my brain as a punch bag. As I lifted my head from my pillow, the surge of dizziness followed. _Fucking hell, I'm such a lightweight. I'm never ever going to drink again._

I felt sick, I felt hung-over, and I had work. _Great. _I stumbled out of bed with one hand on my head. I felt like a dog had had a shit in my head. I eventually made it to the bathroom and took one hard look at myself in my mirror. I pulled my pyjama top off and bottoms - I was still wearing my Elle Macpherson underwear which I had worn yesterday. Aurora the tramp? I certainly felt like one, as I could feel the sweat on my back and the little pieces of dried mascara had spread on my clammy cheeks. I switched the shower on and rubbed by tiresome eyes; I shimmied down my underwear and jumped in. Showers were meant to have a refreshing feeling. Yes I felt clean but I still felt like my brain had been fried with oil.

I slipped my Markus Lupfer 'Love' dress on and some wet-look leggings along with my black bow heels. After I went for some breakfast and made myself a cup of tea, hoping it would brighten up my day, I grabbed one of the remaining yoghurts in my fridge, one of those Activia's which apparently contained Bifidius ActiRegu—whatever. It was an ingredient which helped with digestion……or something like that.

It was a nine o'clock start, so I walked out of the flat and went to work which conveniently was only around the corner.

It didn't matter how convenient it was – I was still late, and I still looked as rough as rocks. I eventually made my way into Selfridges, hoping to be unscathed due to my lateness. I did what I usually did, zapped my ID in, walked to my locker then went straight into work.

As I got to my area on the floor I immediately saw Rosalie who was standing - back straight - at the cashier desk, her eyes looked at me but she followed no expression.

"Rosalie!" I greeted her with the same singing voice as I usually do. I didn't know how I did it with the way I was feeling, but I thought we could have had a good laugh about last night and my embarrassing rampage.

Her eyes immediately flickered to the floor, and I stood there, confused.

As I turned my head I saw Edward Cullen waiting at the other side. _Shit, shit, shit, shit._

"It's nice for you to show up Miss Samuels," he greeted me.

I was glued to the spot, shocked. His essence made me infuriated but trembling by his intimidating composure.

I didn't say anything, but he just smiled in his superior way.

"I'll see you in my office in ten minutes."

I watched him as he walked out to another concession on the floor and then I stared at Rosalie.

"For fuck's sake Rosalie, you could have given me a sign or something!"

Her blue eyes widened.

"Couldn't you see that I was giving the 'something is up' face?" she retaliated.

"How the hell should I know 'the something is up face', you're always a bit grumpy when you're hung-over!" I quarrelled.

She just sighed.

"Oh God, what if I get fired?!" I complained. The worry was kicking in.

She bit her lip, "I'm sure you won't get fired, I mean you've only been late, it's not like it's a regular occurrence."

"Yeah, I know, but I can tell that he hates my guts," I sighed.

"Look, it'll be alright," she assured me. I hoped she was right, I couldn't lose this job.

I stomped over to the desk and buried my head in my hands.

"So, rough night?" She joked.

"Well, you were there, how could you let me get so drunk?" I asked.

"Hey, it's not my fault! I don't know how much you can take, do I?" She folded her arms and stared at me.

"Oh, you were pissed too! Don't make me look like the bad guy!" I retorted.

"Yes, I was drunk, I'll admit, but then again I wasn't late for work. I mean, c'mon Aurora, you only live around the corner."

I felt myself pouting like a child at her.

"Aurora, you know you don't have anyone to blame but yourself."  
I sighed.

"I suppose you're right." I rested my head on my hands and looked around the floor; there were barely any people on the shop floor browsing at this time. "So, how did things work out with Emmett?"

"Oh you know the usual. He wanted to take me home but he just paid the taxi driver instead," she proudly told me.

"Keeping him on his toes, then?" I asked.

She just smirked in response.

"So then…..you and Jasper?" She asked me curiously.

I flinched at her words. It wasn't the first time she had ever brought that up, or the first time I had ever thought about it….and now I was having images of us kissing running through my head.

"We're friends Rosalie," I told her defiantly.

"Sure," she smirked, _yet again._

"Shut up, Rosie."  
She grabbed the stashed Heat magazine from the back of the desk and we flicked through the pages, staring out the red carpet fashion bloopers, and then a few minutes later I knew I had to go to see Edward Cullen. I felt like I was going to the headmaster's office.

"Good luck," Rosie said as I was just straightening my dress before going. I simply rolled my eyes and started to bravely walk to his office. I knew it was next to Mr Jenks' which was on the floor below, and I wondered what his office would be like, since I'd never had to go to into Mr. Jenks's office in my life.

I went straight to the door at the back of the fourth floor; it had the word 'PRIVATE' stamped on it in red. One swift deep breath and I placed my hand on the door knob; it immediately opened to have the hard stare of Edward Cullen. He seemed like he was going to burn me into the ground, but I did what I did best, back straight shoulders back and of course……_Selfridges smile!_

I could feel my lips strained across my face, I felt fake, I felt plastic…but I would prefer to seem professional than to tremble at his hands.

Edward gestured me to follow him, and then turned his back on me (Pfft, how rude!), whilst I trailed behind him to his office. At the end of the hallway he took his keys out and opened a grey door, which I guessed was the door to his new office, and I stepped in to see if the images of his office in my mind were correct.

I instantly saw the light shine from a largish window where you could see the awful view of the Harvey Nichols window displays, (Harvey Nick's is Selfridge's rival and I once got sent over to spy on them) mentally, I was laughing pretty hard at the view, although then again Edward Cullen was new to Selfridges, so he probably didn't know yet.

His office was a symphony of terracotta red and brown leather, it was a lot more stylish and slick than I had expected. He had a huge antique wooden desk which looked terribly expensive with a brown leather arm chair placed behind it. Fuck, I didn't even know Selfridges had this money….or if he himself had paid Laurence Llewelyn Bowen to do it up.

He traced around the room and then eventually stood still next to the window staring at me, I found myself nervously tugging at the back of my dress.

"Why were you late this morning?" He calmly asked me with a no-nonsense expression.

God, who did he think he was?! He's here one second and now he's trying to intimidate me…okay the intimidation was working. I sucked my breath and answered.

"You know this doesn't usually happen if an employee is late…"

"You think you can tell me how to do my job?" he said smoothly, shaking his head lightly with a devilish grin curled on the side of his face.

I should have seen that coming.

"Well, no, I just don't see what the fuss is about," I said, feeling flustered. Edward walked over to his desk and I thought he was going to sit in his armchair, so I shifted myself over to the large brown sofa at the other side of his office.

"I haven't told you to sit down," he coldly told me, before I even got to sit on the sofa.

"Of course you didn't," I retorted hotly and I quickly straightened up. He now walked right in front of me. _Why does he constantly have to fidget about? Couldn't he just stay still?_

"I warned you about the attitude." Edwards eyes were penetrating into mine which made me feel violated, but only because I couldn't draw mine away from his perfect green ones.

I hated the way he was talking to me, so patronising. _Dick._

"Mr Jenks says you're a good worker," he stated, and stepped closer to me. I took a small step back and felt the edge of his desk prodding the back of my thighs.

He still neared towards me, he was even closer than yesterday in Starbucks and he was still extremely good looking. I was starting to think this closeness was inappropriate.

"Would you say you're a good worker?"

I finally dropped my eyesight from his stare feeling bashful.

"Look at me." He sharply demanded.

My eyes trailed back up to meet his face, my eyes wandered past his body…well, they stopped momentarily to admire his toned chest which kind of did make me swoon. Then my eyes drifted to his rugged handsome looks.

"I think I'm okay," I breathed.

"Okay?" He practically laughed – I felt insulted by his tone of laughter, but it's not like I was going to go around shouting that I'm amazing at my job. "Is that how you would describe yourself in an interview?"

"I don't need to take advice from you; I'm perfectly fine by myself, _thank you_. I got this job didn't I?" I blurted out sharply, I couldn't help it, and he knew he was provoking me. He leaned in which forced me to prop up onto the desk. Weirdly, he didn't seem to mind me sitting on his desk…well I didn't know if he'd noticed.

He didn't look angry, he looked slightly amused.

"Of course I should have seen that coming," he coolly said.

His amused expression still lingered and then I felt his hand rest on my lap. My heart started to bounce erratically and the hairs on my skin stood up. I felt the electricity from his hand surge up to my throbbing clit. My body was screaming for his hand to slide up _higher_.

My prayers were answered as his hand ran smoothly up my inner thigh and I roughly slid closer to him so he could meet me quicker, he gently rubbed circles up my skin and the tingling sensation excited me. I looked down at his hand and bit my lip, and then stared up to his face.

"Are we having a problem keeping that temper under wraps?" His voice was so low it was practically a whisper and it sent shivers through my spine as my breathing was becoming thicker.

His eyes seemed like they were filled with lust but his lips were carrying a small smile which was most definitely filled with pride. I think he was teasing me…….._oh my god, he is so teasing me._

I hastily slapped his hand off me. I couldn't believe I fell for that, I felt like a moron. He thought he could twist me around his finger; I stared at him in disbelief.

"Why did you want to see me in your office?!" I bit out at him; he raised his eyebrows for a second and took a step back.

"Can't you _ever_ show me respect?"

_What the actual fuck?!_

"You were just…." I looked down to my lap where his hand was…what could I call what he was just doing?

"So? You took long enough to stop me," he casually responded. I quietly gasped at what he just said.

"So why am I in your office?" I repeated. I tried to calm down the harsh tones so that he wouldn't accuse me of 'not showing respect' or 'giving attitude'. _He might as well give me crayons and a picture and tell me not to colour out of the lines. _

He shined a crooked grin at me; I had to actually control my heart from swooning, so I narrowed my eyes at him.

"I want to take you out with me tonight," he said in a more demanding manner than suggestive.

I stood there stunned (thankfully I had space to fully slip of the desk) and I stared at him, a little disgusted by his confidence to even ask me that question, and then I laughed. Okay my laugh was a little forced and I kind of came across like Cruella Deville but I could feel myself stomping on his big moronic ego.

"God, I hope you're joking," I breathed. He still maintained his strong smile.

"No," he confidently told me, his bold eyes didn't even flicker.

I could feel my face collapse into frown. Bollocks, his ego was still standing solid and proud.

"No, I would never go out with a man like _you."_

He laughed, _he was laughing at me._ Why did he always make me look stupid? I gritted my teeth whilst he was callously laughing.

"Fuck you!" I spat out at him in a temper.

The crooked grin reappeared and, suddenly he came at me so fast, and he roughly shoved me onto his desk as he split my legs with his masculine hands as they cradled beneath my thighs. He leaned into my face as I felt his hard crotch rub against me.

"No, Aurora, I'll fuck you. I'll fuck you so hard that the next day you won't be able to speak because you're throat is so sore from screaming my name," his voice chimed in my ear.

I could feel my breath hitch by this comment. I didn't know what to say back, I knew I would have looked like an even bigger idiot. I swallowed deeply, trying to not fall into his charms and let him fuck me on his desk. I just pushed him off me, not daring to even look at him; he seemed to just let me go. I walked straight out of the door, smoothing my dress on the way.

I slammed the door behind me and practically ran down the small hallway onto the shop floor.

I had to calm down; I felt flushed thinking about what happened. It was all so quick. I didn't know whether to continue hating him or to rush back in there and tear my dress off.

No, I _think_ I still hated him.

***** **

"I heard you've been a naughty girl," Seth joked whilst hanging some new Stella McCartney onto the rails. I hadn't told Rosalie what had happened yet since she was with a customer, but then again I didn't know whether I should have told her.

If I told her or Seth, that meant that I'd looked like an idiot (which I was) and I wasn't prepared to land myself in that position, especially when I hadn't stopped slagging him off yesterday. Although I kind of wanted to tell them, because I couldn't actually believed what had just happened, but I suppose it is a little teenage to tell people about your happenings.

"Oh, he was just pissed about me being late," I lied, well half lied, I think.

"What? He sent you in his office because you were late?" Seth asked, he stopped what he was doing and stared at me putting his hands on his waist.

I knew I had to do some bitching; it was to be expected since I had Seth's full undivided attention.

"Well, it's not a surprise that he hates me; I was being a bit…mouthy yesterday. You should have seen him in his office. He was trying to make me feel inferior, but I just sat there and just….." I wasn't sure what else to say, I was shit at improvising, "You know what, he's a dick, end of story." I complained, that was putting everything lightly, I wanted to shout and scream about what had just happened. But it was best to keep it to myself, since I knew that Seth would have a hard time keeping his mouth shut.

I decided I was just going to ignore Edward unless I really had to talk to him.

I continued working; I sold an Alexander McQueen dress which I was pretty happy about. I had been through days where I couldn't sell anything. Although I had to get the customer about twenty dresses until she decided on the McQueen dress.

I eventually was able to talk to Rosalie at lunch. Selfridges shared a cafeteria with Marks & Spencer's, so that basically meant that we got low priced M&S food, _mmm._ I bought a bowl of chicken and sweetcorn soup, but of course it wasn't just soup, it was _Marks and Spencer's _soup.

"So then, what happened?" Rosie asked, she sounded like it was something she _should_ say rather than _wanted_ to. Which pissed me off a little.

"Err, long story," I responded. I didn't know what I was going to tell her, I don't really like lying, especially to Rosalie.

"What? Did he crack the whip out?" She winked.

My mind averted to Edward pushing me onto the desk, grinding me into his hard…

"Was it really that bad?" Rosie slipped into sympathetic mode, with her lips pursed in a concerned way.

"Ah, wasn't that bad. Just a slap on the wrist." _Closer to a slap on the bum…_

"Aw, hon. Why don't you, me and Seth go for a couple of drinks tonight then?" Why did drinking seem to solve everything in our social group?

"I think I might sit this one out, I don't feel like having hair of the dog," I said taking spoonfuls of my soup.

"C'mon Aurora, its Friday night, have you got work tomorrow or something?" She asked.

"Oh no, I'm off this weekend," I said.

"Oh don't be boring Aurora, come out!" Rosalie was in persuasive mode now.

"No, I'm too tired to go out; I just want to stay in tonight."

Her nose flinched a little, and then she sighed.

"Fine." She finally responded reluctantly, "But you're coming out on Saturday!"

I had to smile at this.

So all through the day I stuck to what I said and completely ignored Edward Cullen, although it wasn't too hard since he didn't linger on our floor…..but there were other floors which I'm sure he flounced over to every girl. I tried my hardest not to think about what happened this morning, but it was difficult since a man hadn't handled me like that….in a while.

But I wasn't going to get into that.

Thankfully my shift ended and I totted back home, made a stop at Tesco express to buy some bread, cereal, milk, chocolate and most importantly, rose wine. When I got back home I cracked open the wine and poured myself some in a glass which was more like a fish bowl. For dinner I made myself some potato smileys and fish fingers (there wasn't much in my freezer) and then I sunk down on my sofa to watch _Hollyoaks. _When I finished, I poured myself another glass. There wasn't much on TV and I found myself wandering around my flat.

The feeling of being alone stalked back on me as I sat on my bed, staring at my wardrobe and wondering whether to open the doors or not. I knew what was back there, and it held many memories. I started to regret not going out tonight. _Damn Rosalie for being right_.

I decided to open my wardrobe…I mean, I do it everyday. It's just I pushed aside this intention I had now. I reached far into the back and felt the smoothness of wrapping paper under my fingers as I dished the box out. It was wrapped so beautifully, he must have got somebody to wrap it for him. It had extravagant deep pink paper which sparkled in the light; he always said I looked good in pink. There was a silvery ribbon tied around the box to make the perfect bow on top. He forgot my birthday the year before so it came as I surprise when I found this in my mail box, actually more than a surprise. My heart sunk lower than it had ever sunk before, I thought I was over everything.

I was sat staring at the parcel and shoved it back into my wardrobe, my eyesight blurred up but I quickly raised my hand and wiped away the tears. No more tears, Aurora.

This was why I hated being alone.

I quickly ran back to my kitchen/dining room/lounge and grabbed my mobile in my bag; I scrolled down my contacts list and clicked on 'Jasper'.

I slowly breathed in trying to control myself as I heard the dialling tones.

"Hello," Jasper greeted me in his comfortably casual way.

"Hey, I know this is last minute and all but…what are you doing tonight?" I asked, sounding a little desperate. Need to control myself better, note this down somewhere Aurora.

"Oh, well….I'm just getting ready to go to a dinner party…" he told me, albeit, quietly.

"Oh right…." _Shit._ "Well, it doesn't matter then…" I didn't know what to say but disappointment filled up.

"No, no….go on, did you want to do something?" He asked me, louder this time and more encouraging.

"Oh well, it doesn't really matter….but I just wondered if you would like to come over to mine, we'll have a couple of drinks and watch one of those films which you always bang on about….but it was just a thought."

"Well, that sounds better than this dinner party," he told me.

A little bit of hope exploded in my chest.

"Oh, well, only come if you want to, I mean if you've made plans it's okay, don't worry about it," I said.

"So, when do you want me over?"

I started to smile like a lunatic. Oh well, this was the miracle of phones.

"Well, soon… but whenever you can make it…" I rambled on.

"Okay, well I should be able to come round in about 20-30 minutes if that's good?"

"That's great!" I felt so much better now, trust Jasper…ahh, Doctor Jasper…

"Alright then, I'll see you later."

"Oh and Jasper!" I quickly shouted hoping I could get him before he cut off.

"Er, yeah?" He said sounding a bit surprised.

"When the hell did you start going to dinner parties?" I asked, genuinely intrigued. We were 21 not 50.

"Emmett persuaded me. Lots of hot girls, apparently," he told me honestly.

"Oh…right…" I said rather awkwardly.

"Haha, don't worry about it. See ya." And then he put the phone down. I couldn't help baring a grin as I pulled out glass number two for Jasper and poured some wine and then slightly topped up mine.

I quickly tidied up and put some dirty washing in my laundry bag and then collected some pots and placed them in my dishwasher. After, I stacked my cushions neatly on my sofa. The place looked a lot tidier.

It wasn't long until I heard knocking on the door and I swung it open to see Jasper gently smiling at me. He was wearing a navy chequered shirt which looked like it was from Topman, _I knew he liked Topman, _he wore his shirt with some dark blue jeans and some black converse. He always dressed in an Indie boy way, and it was hot, I knew girls fell for that look and especially his hair, it was shaggy honey blonde hair, I always saw girls doing a double take at the sight of him.

He was also carrying a Tesco's bag and I couldn't help but laugh.

"One day Jasper, Tesco's will own us," I told him as he followed me into the kitchen area, I heard him laugh at my comment.

"Well, I needed to stop for supplies as I know you barely have enough food in here to feed yourself," he said and then placed the plastic bag on my counter. Jasper had a slight Texan accent, although it had died down whilst he had lived here. He moved to England when he was 9.

"True," I admitted "Although in my defence, I did cook dinner for myself tonight."

He turned around with his light gorgeous blue eyes wide at me and then he dropped his jaw and started to be all over-exaggerative.

"Well done Aurora! Do you wanna a medal?" He pinched my cheeks, it kind of stung actually.

"Oh get off me! You……..tit," I finally came with, he erupted in laughter again.

"Nice comeback."

"Yeah, well I think it's pretty good too." This was our usual play fighting that we always did whenever he came over or we met up.

"So then, do you want to see want Santa's got in his sack full of goodies," he winked.

"Seriously Jasper – don't do that," I told him. A smile curled at the edge of his lips as he was scurrying through the bag.

"Drum role, please." I started banging my palms on the edge of the counter.

He dug his hand in the bag and snatched out a bag of Doritos, I stopped drumming and laughed.

"Wow, you party animal," I said sarcastically.

"Well, you can't have a good night without Doritos," he defended himself.

"Hmm, I suppose so, you best have got some dip."

He dug his hand into the plastic bag again, and some cheese dip occurred in his hand.

"Ahh, great minds think alike," I laughed.

He nodded his head and brought out four bottles of Peroni's.

"Nice," I stated, "Although, I do have a few Carlsburgs in the fridge you know," I added.

"Yes, well they're not Peroni, anyway, that can be our back up beer."

"Nice, we sound like alcoholics."

At last he grabbed the DVD out of the bag.

"It's a Swedish vampire flick, it's called 'Let the Right One In' sure we were going to see but then for some reason….we didn't," he told me, thinking about why we didn't go, and then I thought about it.

"I was probably working late last minute or something," I decided to say.

"Yeah, probably." He concluded.

Then I passed him his glass of wine.

"Cheers," he said "So shall we watch it then?"

I grabbed the DVD out of his hand and placed it into my player. We opened the Doritos and dip and I popped the Peroni's in my fridge. We thought we would drink them after we polished off the wine.

I rested next to Jasper on my sofa as we watched the film, I found the film slightly hard to get into but when I did, I was gripped. It was exactly something Jasper would love, although I had to turn away at the gory bits which made me squeak a little, so I quickly hid my face in Jasper's shirt. Jasper was so warm and he smelt good, he smelt like soap and a hint of Lynx.

When the film finished, we talked about it for a while. I listened as Jasper went on about his favourite bits and the camera angles and the lighting of it all. I was awful at going into specific details about films, but I liked to listen to Jasper as I always found his views and opinions really interesting.

We were now onto the beer and the wine had really relaxed and made me feel happy like I was floating.

"So how was day two with Cullen?" Jasper asked.

Being with Jasper didn't make me think of anything else, especially Edward.

"Well I had to go to his office for being late," I stated.

Jasper's eyes widened in disbelief as I was picking at the Peroni sticker on my green bottle, then I took another swag.

"Really?"

"Yes, I'm not joking, but you won't believe the next bit," I was going to tell him about the whole Edward pushing me on the desk thing, but I couldn't, well mentally I was telling myself not to but the alcohol was pushing the words up.

"Why? What happened?" He immediately asked.

I bit my lip looking at him.

"He asked me out," I told him, deciding not to go by the graphic version.

He nearly choked on his beer; I couldn't help but display a smirk.

"You're kidding me right? What a fucking dick!" He basically shouted this.

"I know, I was pretty shocked," I confessed.

"Oh don't go there Aurora." I could feel my bottom jaw drop at this statement, don't go there?!

"I wasn't even thinking about it," I retorted bitterly.

"Yes, but, I just don't want you to…." He started to get uncomfortable.

"Yes Jasper, I know, he would just use me for sex. That would be his intentions anyway….he's just that type of guy."

"He's a fucking bastard; you shouldn't even waste your time talking to that prick!" Jasper was getting all huffy, it was slightly endearing.

"Well, it's a little hard since he's always about Selfridges. I'm trying to just ignore him."

"I think you could report him you know Aurora," Jasper advised me, I thought about it. I would be too embarrassed talking about it, although, it would be great to see the back of that sleazy wanker.

"I'll keep that in mind," I said quietly, then I dropped my head on Jasper's shoulder and we just sat there for a few minutes. Drinking and not saying anything, we could only hear the odd bit of traffic going past my apartment block.

"I don't think I want another relationship anyway," I eventually said.

Jasper turned his head to stare at me.

"You just need to meet the right kind of guy." He smiled.

"Yeah, you're right…"

Then we just stared at each other, it was so weird. A bit like Jasper's movies, except for this would be the romantic part where the leading couple have a 'moment'. I decided to lean in; it's what they do in the movies right?

I felt the urge to kiss him, I think it was most likely the alcohol, but I just wanted to steal one small kiss, and as I neared to his lips he didn't make any sudden movements to stop me from doing my actions.

I stared straight into his sparkling blue eyes, they didn't give anything away to what he was thinking or feeling. So, I just carried on with my intentions.

I landed on his warm lips and then my mind kicked in. We were friends, this was one drunken kiss, and it could ruin our friendship, _but it was nice_. Although that second I felt a slight pout kissing me back, and then I slowly raised my head out of it. So it was more like a four second peck.

I thought I did what was right; it's funny how your mind can turn so quickly.

I just smiled at him as his face was unreadable.

"Would you like another beer?"

* * *

**Thanks if you've read this far.**

**Reviews make me smile, **

**PM if anything goes over your head!**

**Kitty x  
**


	4. My Knight in Shining Prada

**Disclaimer: SM owns everything Twilighted related!**

**Warning: a few Pulp Fiction references, I hope everyone understands ...if not, go and watch pulp fiction (;  
**

**My Beta wants me to say that she's sorry for the lateness because she's going to check if I don't... _but_ she needs to know that she has done a fantastic job and I forgive her for her busy-ness, 'cause she's a great beta! (: **

**also a shout out to FoxFirecard - she made my day a few weeks back, thank you (:**

**anyway, enjoy!**

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My brain was dancing around in little fantasies, like the lights were on but nobody was in.

I went out with Rosalie on the Saturday night. She rang and wouldn't stop going on about 'how I let her down' and how her Friday night resorted to half watching the worst-film-on-earth, St. Trinians, and snacking on the contents of her fridge – that's when she got really pissy and yelled at me, saying something along the lines of 'I sat at home like fucking humpty dumpty on my sofa whilst I could have been out fucking a Jude Law look a-like!'. Can't you tell that she oozes classiness?

So I was pretty much bullied to go out on Saturday, and then I got trashed. I swear I heard my liver crying at me, wondering what it had done wrong this week.

No texts from Jasper though. I busied myself on Saturday, scrubbing my apartment from top to bottom and then losing my dignity shopping in central Manchester. Last night's small kiss wasn't mentioned – in fact, it was forgotten. Which I appreciated, but I wanted to know what he thought about it all.

I shouldn't have been surprised about him not hushing a word about the incident – it wasn't Jasper. He never made a big deal; he was just cool, laid-back Jasper.

The next week wasn't one of my finest weeks, either. On Monday and Tuesday, Edward was giving me the cold shoulder. I watched him walk across my floor, but he never entered the super brand section. I could even see Rosalie staring at him; she was pulling off her classic moves: bending over the counter so the top of her breasts perked out of her v-neck dress, giving him one of her own seductive stares and of course whenever she could walk past him she always tried to gain eye contact, or say, 'Mr Cullen,' in one of her sexy mannerisms.

Rosalie can be such a suck up.

I didn't want to talk to him anyway. He stared at women like they were pieces of meat. He probably thought of me the same way. I was stationed on my work floor, watching him go by advising people or whatever the fuck he did. He looked at me once or twice – well, I say me but he might as well have been looking at the minimalist walls in the background, well that's what I gathered judging by his facial expression – emotionless, bored….like I wasn't really there. There was no eye contact, and these moments when I caught him looking, he didn't stare for long.

He was such a self centred, disgusting, stereotypical womaniser.

But I would have preferred the ignorance than the look he gave me when Wednesday arrived.

One revolting grin, like he had seen me, felt me, fucked me. I'd never felt so exposed with my clothes on, as his eyes seeped into mine in a way which made me feel disgusted. I wanted to go over there and spit in his face – I didn't know why he seemed so happy with himself, it'd taken him two days to even properly give me any recognition.

I couldn't come out with a cocky remark or a cold glare; I was caught off guard which isn't like me _at all._

So, I stood there, sucking in a deep breath only to make a silent gasp as he strode past me like he was the big shot he thought he was.

_Maybe he really was a big shot; maybe he knew he was great. Maybe he knew that I've been thinking about that Friday morning and all the possible ways he could have taken me._

And that was when I started to try and erase Friday morning out of my stupid head.

No more Edward.

No thinking, no talking, no looking.

A week after that Wednesday, Rosalie and I were skipping through the new Heat magazine. There was an interview with Jordan (when _isn't_ she in Heat or OK?) that was just full of bullshit. Then we flicked over to what escapades the celebrities had done this week. We saw a suave photo of George Clooney out and about and, oh yes; we swooned over Clooney and his Hugo Boss suit. Then we looked on the next page.

We gasped.

We giggled.

We cursed.

"Oh my fucking God!" Rosalie screeched.

"I didn't even know the paparazzi stalked him," I confessed.

"Well, I suppose he is famous, he was a special guest on the 'Dragons Den'…" Rosalie said.

Yes, we were staring at an intoxicated Edward Cullen looking, of course, pretty full of himself. He was walking out of Circle (a pretentious over expensive club which sold £15 cocktails), and had two skinny looking women on his arm. A Caucasian girl with short hair styled in quirky points and another girl with a luminous complexion and red wild hair with a full mischievous grin on her face.

I couldn't help it, I grimaced at the picture. I felt a surge of jealousy deliver through my stomach as I saw these women hooked comfortably on his masculine arms, and they looked like professional models. This was probably why he had that dumb shit eating smirk on his face last Wednesday. I sighed.

"Pfft, they all look like hookers," Rosalie decided to say.

"Yeah…..definitely…" I replied. Although, they didn't look like hookers at all, and I believed that Rosalie knew they didn't. I stared at her as her eyes were stamped on the picture, envy was written across her face, but she quickly snapped out of it.

"I wonder if he'll turn up at the charity fancy dress party on Friday," she mused, whilst twisting her silky locks around her finger.

I knew Siobhan from the truffle counter had somehow forced Selfridges in holding a charity event. I say 'forced' because Selfridges are uptight and I can't remember them ever doing any charity work, but Siobhan also did volunteer work for 'Cancer Research'… or it could have been 'Save the Children'. We'd all heard Selfridges were pretty reluctant about it at first, but there had been rumours that she was going to go to the press about them declining this suggestion. There was an even worse rumour that she had to sleep with Mr. Jenks….

But that thought made me gag slightly.

"I doubt it," I told her bluntly.

"Oh well, his loss that he won't see me as the beautiful Marilyn Monroe!" _Did I mention Rosalie's really modest?_

"I thought the theme was characters from famous movies?" I asked her.

She dramatically rolled her eyes at this question.

"At the end of the day Aurora, I've paid for my ticket for this party. I've done my bit for charity…..so if I want to go as Marilyn, I'll go as bloody Marilyn. The most Siobhan will do to me is chuck a few Vietnamese truffles my way."

_Well that was me told._

"So, who are you going as anyway?" She asked whilst stashing the Heat underneath the counter.

"Ahh, all will be revealed on the night." She raised her eyebrow at me.

"Mysterious." She concluded, and then smiled. "You know, I was thinking that this Friday would be the night where I give me and Emmet a go."

Now it was my time to raise my eyebrows at her.

"You're kidding?!" I could feel my mouth gaping slightly as I had to suppress a gleeful scream. _You know, I have to keep professional._

"I don't joke about things like this," she stated, trying to be serious but couldn't calm down the happiness streaming out of her voice.

"What's brought this on then?" I asked. I never thought she would give into him, although I hoped she would.

"Well, I think I'm willing to take the risk….I mean, isn't risk taking supposed to be healthy?" She said whilst applying lip gloss.

"Oh Rosie, it's not a risk. Don't talk about it like that. You two will be so good together, and don't deny it! I can see that you've fancied him for ages!"

She didn't respond to this remark, but she seemed happy with herself as I caught her crack a small smile.

I decided to leave it at that, knowing that this Friday was going to be a great night.

***

I slid the comb through my black wig one more time just to perfect the look, and then I ran around my double bed and leaped on it with a cigarette in my hand and lifted my back legs up, trying to look cool but seductive – just like Uma.

"Rosie, you can come in now!" I called out and I heard the sounds of quick footsteps approaching my bedroom door. The door swung open with Rosalie as Marilyn Monroe in the doorway wearing the iconic white fluttery dress and her hair was styled in tight golden spirals.

"Oh my God, Mia from Pulp Fiction, right?" She asked in a high pitched tone.

"Er, yes. That was why I did the whole pose…." I stared at her gulping down her red wine like she hadn't drunk for a whole month.

"Nervous much?" I asked her.

Rosalie started to laugh at this statement, although it wasn't believable and I just laid there not as fooled as she hoped I would be. She detected this, and huffed.

"Aurora, I'm twenty-three. Of course I'm not nervous," Rosalie snapped at me. I finally got off the bed patting down my white shirt and then I actually lit my cigarette and poured myself a small glass of red wine. When I got to the large green bottle, over half of the burgundy liquid was already gone.

_Of course Rosalie wasn't nervous. What was I thinking…_

"You seem pretty thirsty, Rose." I pointed out whilst sipping on my drink.

Her eyes just glowered at me; she knew I caught her out. I couldn't help smiling.

"Don't worry Rosie, it'll be fine, he's gonna be thrilled."

"I'm not fucking worried!" She immediately retaliated.

"Sure…" I smiled.

She downed the remains of her wine.

"Let's go Mia," she winked at me.

"Sure thing 'daddy-o'." I mimicked in my best American accent.

We were off as soon as I put another coat of rouge on my lips and found my keys (which were stuffed at the back of my sofa). We were giggling all the way to the Moet Bar, (which was where all Selfridges parties were held as it's on the second floor of Selfridges), andas we were walking we were concocting a smooth plan as to how she could finally accept Emmet but still kind of have him wanting more. I could tell she was anxious as hell as she chained smoked most of the way there.

As we arrived to the second floor we were hit with the best view of Manchester; the wall was a large, long window and you could see the Manchester Eye and all the tall buildings of the shopping jungle. There was some music playing but it was more like background noise. Mainly people were spread around in little groups drinking and socialising. Even though the view was spectacular, the Moet Bar's white walls always made me feel cold and never 100% relaxed.

We handed our tickets to Siobhan, who was busying away, seeming so happy. Her charity had obviously had a good night. Siobhan always seemed the type to have been awarded brownie of the year multiple times when she was little.

The first thing Rosalie seemed to do was grab two glasses of champagne (Moet & Chandone of course) and tipping the content of her glass down her throat.

She handed me the second glass, but I steadied myself. I didn't want another embarrassing episode.

As we walked through the room we received a few compliments, and I think my confidence reached sky high as people praised my costume. Although, some people wondered who I was at first, which Rosalie thought was amusing for some reason or another.

Whilst Rosalie kept on complaining about how the back of her shoe was digging into her heel, I was scoping around the room to see the different film characters. There were a couple of Jack Sparrows and a Dorothy and then somebody caught my eye. Well he caught my eye because he was walking straight up to us; he was wearing a black suit like a ring master in a Circus with a tall top hat and a face caked with make up, black eyeliner, long dramatic fake eyelashes and shocking red lipsticks with two pink circles on each cheek. He looked very doll-like and as he drew nearer Rosalie stopped talking for a half a second then burst of laughing.

When he was close enough, it was clearly Seth and I couldn't help but smirk.

"I didn't even recognize you!" I cried out and gave him a huge hug.

"Watch the make up, babe," Seth warned me.

"And what in God's name did you come as?" Rosalie carefully examined him.

He took one step back and widened his eyes and stood in a flamboyant fashion.

"I'm the Master of Ceremonies from _Cabaret_!" He declared whilst doing jazz hands.

"Oh how very……." She paused and pursed her lips, "…gay."

Now it was Seth's turn to examine our outfits. He grabbed my right hand and held it straight up whilst I gave him a model like turn.

"And I think Aurora wins the outfit competition, so sexy, so damn cool. If I was straight I'd do you." I laughed at this comment and Rosalie stood there arms folded staring at Seth with her daggers.

Seth looked at her apologetically.

"I'm not saying you don't look like a rockstar, because _you _know _you do._ It's just that there's already another Marilyn – Jessica from MAC. Sorry, hon. But you definitely do Marilyn better than her; she's wearing some sort of polystyrene wig which resemble old woman more than the marvellous Marilyn."

As soon as she heard there was another Marilyn Monroe her expression turned for the worse.

"You're kidding me?! That bitch is always copying me, she's like cheap wine…she can never live up to the best and if you have too much it makes you sick." Rosalie was in hurricane mode.

"Babe, don't worry about it. You're both the fiercest girls in this room." Seth smiled at us.

"Yeah Rosie, it doesn't matter, it's just a party and all eyes will be on you like _always,_" I said trying to cheer her up, she just huffed.

"Well, I'm going to ruin her night somehow…" she confirmed aggressively.

"Maybe you should have come as the wicked witch of the west." Seth laughed, and then went to pick up glass of champagne whilst a peek of a smile showed up on Rosalie's face.

"Anyway, you've got to think about Emmet," I said in her ear, and her smile turned into a full blown grin.

"That's better Rosie baby," Seth told her when he returned.

Our conversation turned to better things (or worse) when we started to slag off Jessica and her man habits, and when Seth started to go into details about her and this supposed orgy, I tuned out and looked to see who else had turned up tonight.

As I was spying on people I caught my first glimpse of the unexpected, talking to a bunch of women. Of course: Cullen. He didn't even dress up – killjoy. He was wearing a tux and his hair was still in that sexy tousled style. And then his face slowly turned and quickly caught me staring at him. As soon as our eyes met my face quickly turned away back to Seth's, ridden with embarrassment.

Seth quickly broke off when he saw my expression.

"What's up babe?" he urgently asked.

"Cullen's here," I told him. He rolled his eyes whilst Rosalie eyes did something different.

"What! Where?" She squeaked and looked around, forgetting to be subtle, and when I took a second look with her, he was still staring at me in an intense fashion, and gave me a seductive wink. Rosalie quickly turned around.

"Fuck…." I murmured.

"OhmyGod!" She squeaked through her teeth, "Did you just see him wink at me?" She looked at us like an over-excited child. I raised my eyebrows at her.

_He winked at me, bitch._

"I don't think he winked, I heard he has one of them twitches with his eye, like sometimes he can't stop doing it…" and as I was saying this to them I found myself giving them an example. At least Seth laughed.

Rosalie didn't look as amused as she was back to the folding arm business and rolling of the eyes.

"Ok-ay then…" She said. I looked at her, burning my eyes into her face. _Fuck off bitch._

"I'm going to the toilet. Bye," I abruptly announced. I couldn't stay any longer. If she gave me one of her arrogant looks _again_, I'll slap it clean off.

So I sauntered off to the bathroom and when I arrived out I had calmed down and my make up was perfected once again and I double checked my wig was in place. I grabbed my second glass of champagne, which was my third drink of the night, which was good for me. Then I checked the time, quarter to ten. Yes, definitely good for me.

I walked through some crowds, feeling like a lost lamb as I couldn't find Rosalie or Seth. All I could see was hired waiters sailing around the room, refreshing the canapés on the table.

_Mmm, something with crab in it I guess. I think that's the way forward for me tonight._

I smiled to myself; at least I was getting fed here.

"You should arrive at work dressed like Mia Wallace more often," I heard Edward whisper in my ear.

His voice sent shudders down my spine – but in a really good way, and I felt myself unconsciously biting my bottom lip.

I turned around on my heel as I caught him staring at me; it was like he had x-ray goggles or something.

"Don't remember the last film _you _were in," I stated monotonously, trying to act like what he had just done just _didn't_ affect me at all.

He merely laughed at my comeback.

"I'm James Bond if that makes you feel any better," he told me, mockingly.

I folded my arms and stared at him.

"Because he gets all the girls, right?" I calmly said, keeping my face composed and indifferent.

"Exactly." His voice was sterner than I would have cared for. "This party is too boring for my taste, they're only serving champagne at the moment, how about we have something different to drink, in my office?"

How he managed to stay cool and confident constantly was beyond me.

I first thought about his office and the lovely leather sofa….

And then my mind kicked in.

_Who does he think he is?_

_Hmm, but he is right about the party, just a bit right anyway…._

The offer was so tempting….maybe….

No. We all know that'll end in disaster – thank God I hadn't drunk more.

"Nice try," I scoffed.

His emerald eyes held me for a few seconds; it didn't seem like a light-hearted question when I looked at him. I kept my cold glare displayed upon my face. I knew he only wanted to bed me, and with the way he was acting it wouldn't be long until my legs buckled, letting him have me.

I had to walk away from him before I gave into his offer. I breathed in sharply and decided to go to one of the tables that served crab pastries. That was my original intention anyway.

I picked up one of the crappy paper plates and placed two crab pastries and a mini samosa. I subtly peered over my shoulder to see if he had gone from the spot where I'd left him.

He wasn't there.

Well, good. I did the right thing. He was rude, too overly confident for my liking and, of course, he was arrogant. Going to his office would have only ended in regret anyway. Plus I would probably have Rosalie on my back for the rest of the night, wondering what had happened. I wouldn't tell her anyway because she was being a miserable bitch.

I searched around the room looking for Seth – or somebody I could talk to. I did see Rosalie and she was talking to Emmett. I wondered if her plan was going along; I thought it would have been unwise to interrupt the 'risk'.

So I did what I did best. I got my third flute of champagne and leaned on one of the white pillars in the centre of the room, watching the party pass by me. Some people were already drunk, acting in a loud fashion and their wigs were halfway off their heads.

I suddenly felt somebody's presence move near me. I kept on trying to act cool, not wanting to look straight at the person who was nearing where I stood.

"So how does that bad tomato joke go again?" I heard a deep hearty voice in my ear and I tensed up, not knowing who this voice belonged to.

I looked up to see a tall but masculine guy tower over me. He was the clichéd dark and handsome and he was wearing a huge Cheshire cat smile which instantly made me feel comfortable in his presence. This guy aced first impressions.

"Shame on you for not knowing the joke." I sighed. "But at least you know who I am. I know some people were wondering if I'd dressed as a transvestite." The mystery man just raised his eyebrow in bewilderment and I just nodded.

My mind cast back to an hour ago when I had arrived. Some of my colleagues didn't have a clue as to who I was and couple of the MAC girls asked me if I was a tranny. _Stupid bitches, they've got no taste in films whatsoever. _A few of them had come as Wild Cat cheerleaders from High School Musical…..some of these girls were older than me.

"I think it's the wig," I confessed, and he grinned once again; he was actually more than handsome…

"Well, I think the wig's hot," he told me. I detected an American accent the second time he spoke, it was quite sexy.

"Thanks…" I wasn't sure where to take the conversation next as I was staring at his striking, yet mildly off-putting, face.

"I'm Jacob Black," he introduced himself, raising his hand. Ah, I suppose introducing myself would have been a good idea….

"Aurora Samuels," I told him and shook his hand. I hated shaking people's hands; it was such a guy thing…

I took a second look to see his attire; Prada suit, _very nice._ But not fancy dress.

"Where's your costume?" I asked him in a playful tone.

Jacob edged from one foot to the other looking mischievous.

"I hoped you wouldn't ask me that. Sorry, I didn't dress up; I didn't know it was fancy dress. I hope I don't lose any points."

I giggled, "Lose points?"

"You know, so at the end of this I could hopefully receive your number."

I was a bit taken aback by his honesty, but I could feel myself glowing and feeling all fluttery. It all seemed a bit surreal.

"You're confident," I noted, trying to suppress myself from smiling – that was a failure.

"I'll take a mental note that you don't like the confident type." He grinned.

"Oh no, I like confident. It's different from most of the shy guys."

Then I thought about Edward. He wasn't shy at all and I hated his confidence, but Jacob seemed to have just the right amount of confidence, which a girl likes – _well _I_ do_.

"Good, it means I don't have to change too much." Jacob then collected another two glasses of champagne and handed me one; I was glad we had the same brainwaves.

"Thanks," I said whilst sipping on my flute, "So, what are you doing here then? I haven't seen you about Selfridges and you don't look like the type to be in retail."

"What do you think I do then?"

"I really don't know….erm, something business-y?" I guessed.

"Well that was specific." He cheekily grinned.

"Yes, well, I really don't know you." I laughed.

"But I don't work in retail, right?"

"Right," I confirmed, "So go on and tell me I'm wrong."

"Well, it's something 'business-y', I own a chain of hotels," he confessed, looking quite proud actually…..but then again – I didn't blame him.

It took a couple of seconds for it to sink in. A chain of hotels, I could feel my eyes widen. I didn't expect that – at all.

"Really?" I asked. I couldn't conceal my shock.

"Really."

"What are they called? Maybe I've heard of them?" I asked.

"Pacific Hotels," he replied a little quieter this time, he seemed quite humble now, and then it clicked.

_I had heard of them._ I knew it was a four star chain, really popular, all around America.

I suddenly felt small and a bit intimidated and I think these feeling conveyed upon my face.

"I knew I shouldn't have told you." He immediately said.

I tried to grin and make my expression disappear but I just couldn't believe who I was talking to. _It's funny how these feelings didn't occur when I talked to Edward._

"No, sorry, it's my fault. Still in shock," I owned up.

"Don't be," he assured me. "I'm shocked that I'm still talking to a beautiful girl like you."

He smiled again, his eyes lighting up when he did so.

"What a line," I countered.

"It _was_ a bit cheesy." He bent his head down, like he was slightly embarrassed and then rose it back up.

His eyesight suddenly changed and I caught him looking straight past my head.

I immediately thought that he must have seen Rosalie and my heart sank. I couldn't help but turn my head and look at the spot where his eyes had averted to. When I did, I was surprised.

It wasn't Rosalie or any other girl for that matter. I turned back to look at him and his smile had dropped.

"You know him?" I asked.

"I didn't think he would be here; it's not his style to be charitable." His voice was bitter and harsh.

I looked back to the spot. Edward was conversing with some people I didn't recognise, and his green eyes rose to meet mine. He knew I was looking and I felt my cheeks flush.

_It's the second bloody time this has happened tonight._

He gave me the same cold expression as he did the other week, and with that I quickly whipped my head around.

"He's such a prick," I sighed. I hated him: earlier he was flirting with me, and now he was staring at me like I was road kill left to rot.

"Don't let him ruin your night; you don't want to waste the energy." Jacob grinned at me.

"You're _so _right," I laughed. I started to feel quite excited when it occurred to me that we seemed to have so much in common: a) we liked to have a drink in our hand at parties; b) we liked Pulp Fiction; c) we loved to hate Edward. Well, I think he loved to hate him - either way I was pretty sure he wasn't not a fan.

Jacob downed the remains of his champagne then propped the empty flute on a nearby table.

"As much as I don't want to draw this conversation to a close, I'm afraid I have to go. So how do you feel about letting me ring you sometime?"

"I'd like that," I smiled, impressed with his suaveness.

He gave me his phone for me to type my number in. I could tell the phone was top of the range expensive and it had all these different buttons which confused me and the touch screen made me click onto the wrong things. So, in the end I had to just tell him the numbers whilst he added me. I was glad he could just laugh about it whilst I felt I was still stuck in the Stone Age.

After he left, I just sat there watching his retreating back. I couldn't believe such a hot guy who was loaded and funny just asked for my number, and he seemed interested. I hoped he would ring me.

I was left in a daze world. _Nothing _could bring me down; I had a big silly smile glued onto my face. I decided to go look for Rosalie, I really couldn't care about the way she acted earlier. I felt like I was riding high with the clouds.

It didn't take long to find her. She was hiding in the girl's toilets looking glum.

"Hey stranger," I greeted her, hoping she would be happy.

She just looked up, but she still didn't seem cheery at all.

"Hi," she replied flatly.

"Hey – Rosie, what's up?"

"Uh, it's silly." She looked back down at the bathroom sinks. Knowing Rosalie, it probably _was_ silly, but I hated to see her look so dejected.

"C'mon, spill. It obviously isn't silly if you're feeling like shit about it," I said, trying my best at being comforting.

"It's Emmett."

I automatically held my breath. I'd encouraged her into going out with him, what if it went wrong? No, it couldn't have gone wrong, Emmett was crazy about her. But, what if it had for some silly reason….that would mean it was my fault.

"Go on…" I gently encouraged her.

"Well, it was all going fine, I hadn't told him about the whole 'I was ready to go on a date with him' thing – but I was getting there, and you know, too much champagne and I needed to go to the toilet, and when I went back out I saw him and Lauren – talking." She exhaled a long, miserable sigh at the end.

Talking? Was she really that insecure?

"What? Rosalie Hale, are you joking?"

She shook her head.

"I knew you would think it was stupid."

"Look at me," I urged her. Her face looked up to me and her blue eyes looked so lifeless. "Rosie, you are over-reacting."

"I'm not; everybody knows they had a thing going on," she said, trying to defend herself.

"So?! They don't now; Emmett would reject a hundred Lauren's just to get to you!" I clung onto her shoulders and gave her a good shake, hoping some sense would piece together.

"Really?"

"Yes! This so isn't like you! You shouldn't be cooped up in the Selfridge's toilets, not only because they're small and horrible but also because you're the fiercest woman who works here! You can't hide away. Even if you don't get with Emmett, which is highly unlikely, you'll probably have a queue of other guys who would _kill _to get a chance to go on a date with you."

Finally, a smile cracked.

I felt quite proud with my saintly speech.

She stood up and held me in a tight hug.

"Thanks, you're so right." I silently shook my head at her ever-so-modest line.

"It's alright, just stop being so stupid." I smiled at her.

She quickly snapped into real Rosalie.

"Have you seen Jessica by the way?" she asked me deviously.

"Erm, no, why?"

"Well, an accident occurred earlier tonight when somebody dropped some tomato finger food down her white dress." She grinned – Rosalie could rule the world if she wanted to.

"Rosie, you're such a bitch," I laughed.

"Well, there can only be one Marilyn Monroe at this party." She put on her innocent pout. I wasn't falling for that shit; I just raised my eyebrow at her.

"Whatever – by the way, I think I might be having a date soon with the owner of Pacific Hotels," I winked at her.

Her blue eyes nearly fell out of their sockets.

"You're fucking kidding me right?!" She nearly exploded.

"Do I look like I'm kidding?" As soon as I said that she squealed, asking me a million questions a minute.

After about ten minutes of 'Is he hot?' 'How toned would you say he is?' 'Did he look expensive?' I finally escaped the toilets leaving Rosalie in there. She told me she would be out in a few minutes after topping up on her make up.

The party was still live and kicking. There were the sensible types off in their groups talking and laughing and then there were the rowdy drunks, who were a lot more raucous than the last time I checked as they were crazily dancing and thinking they were Fergie. I had to laugh. Especially when I noticed Seth was in the middle of it.

I suddenly felt a hand at the small of my back, leading me away from the party. I rolled my eyes to see _his_ face.

"What are you doing?" I questioned Edward with a sharp tone; I knew he would break my night into pieces.

"I thought we could chat somewhere away from the masses of drunks."

"Why?!" I retorted, more than asked.

"Because I want to and I want you to come with me," he confidently said. I had to admire his assertion and I thought if he wanted to talk to me so much, I should just get it over and done with. So I didn't say anything, although there was a sensation inside of me which was filled with excitement wondering what would happen. Would we talk? Maybe I would be wrong about Edward. I kind of hoped that he was much different than I thought he was, that he could crack a cheesy joke and he didn't mind making a fool out of himself.

I followed him to his office – talk about déjà vu, the feelings I had were resembling the ones I had before I reached his office on _that_ Friday morning. After he unlocked his office door and we were in, I could smell the strong scent of cigarettes. I never knew he was a smoker.

He walked over to his huge desk (which seemed much untidier than last time) and he bent down and roughly pulled out his draw. I carefully watched his movements, wanting to be on alert so there were no more off guard tricks. He pulled out a bottle of Captain Morgans. I smiled, it was one of my favourite drinks but I never had enough money to buy a bottle for myself. Well, I probably did… but most of my money was spent on clothes and nights out.

"Drink?" he asked. I was suddenly aware of the smile I held and instantly dropped it.

I hesitated for a second, I didn't want to give the impression that I was giving into _any_ sort of temptation, I didn't want him to think I was weak, I didn't want him to think I was easy. So, instead I stood there wanting a drink but not knowing how to say 'yes please' in an ill-mannered way.

"I'm not going to poison you," he gruffly snapped at me.

"A small one then," I answered, a little shaken by his sudden sharpness. I kept a close eye as I watched him pour the rum into two glasses; he obviously didn't hear me when I said the word 'small'.

He passed me a crystal glass and for a moment before I was about to taste it, I just stared at the russet coloured liquid, I couldn't understand why I was here, drinking with him when he could have asked any other girl.

As I averted my gaze back to Edward it was obvious that he had been watching me, and he held his handsome crooked grin. _Third time he's caught me off guard tonight, for Christ Sake I actually thought I was good at being aloof and mysterious._

"Enjoying the party?" He asked me. What a boring question, quite the opposite of the way he made me feel the other week.

"I'm flattered that you're using your best line on me," I answered him icily.

His eyebrows inched together as he stared into my face.

"Are you always such a cold bitch?" He slammed the word 'bitch' down and he didn't forget to smile at the end. I tried my best to remain impassive by his remark.

"Why? Am I getting to you or something?" I artfully gave him one of my ridiculing looks.

"Or am I getting to you?" Edward's eyes narrowed, watching to see if my expression would break.

He paused and I froze.

I waited to see if he would elaborate.

"You seem lively with your friends; it only seems to be me who you like to give hell to." He smirked at the end of this. Of course, this was Edward-style so my self-assurance was now minuscule.

I decided to take another drink whilst contemplating on how to answer – it was a very long swallow.

"I'm sure you would _love_ to think that," I finally answered.

He fell silent for a minute; I just stood there waiting for a reply, he had one hand in his pocket and the other around his glass. For some reason, just watching him like that made me feel uncomfortable and I found myself looking around his office.

"Please - sit down," he said. _It was certainly a change of tune._

I obliged, not saying anything. He didn't even ask me if I wanted to sit down last time I was here, so I thought I should definitely take advantage of this.

He walked over to his desk and placed his drink down. He unknotted his tie and threw it on his desk and then unbuttoned the first two buttons on his shirt. He exhaled whilst combing his fingers through his bronze hair - I was in awe at his movements, I couldn't help but admire everything about him. My heart started to race like I had finally took in my surroundings, _his office, the place where he could do whatever he wanted_.

He finally turned around to look at me; he embedded one cigarette in his mouth and lit it. He gestured for me to take one.

"I'm fine at the moment, thanks," I told him.

"So what it is that you find so repulsive about me then?" He sounded curious.

I wanted to say 'nothing except for that dog awful attitude of yours' – but I thought that would make me sound a bit motherly and even more of a bitch.

"Does it even matter?" I replied quietly whilst taking another sip.

He sat at the other side of the leather sofa, he looked so laid back compared to me – I was sitting upright in a rigid manner.

"I don't find you repulsive." He stopped, probably waiting for me to react – but I didn't. "You don't know how sexy you are," he added. I felt goosebumps down my arm soon as I heard his velvety voice say it. I couldn't look at him but I felt his presence nearing towards me.

"I'm not sexy," I said, trying to just end it but I knew what was going to happen.

"You're right. I've been with plenty of girls who were sexy." _Oh here he goes…_

"You're beautiful."

Those two words rung through my head. He probably always said it to all the girls, but it felt….believable. I stared at his face, his chiselled features…his emerald eyes devouring me.

"Thank you." That was all I could say; he lightly laughed, but his stare still hung on. At that moment he didn't seem like the guy I thought he was, he seemed _different._ Not the complete arsehole I believed him to be but just a regular guy. He raised his hand and stroked the side of my wig; he rewarded me with that sexy crooked grin he so wonderfully supported.

And then his face changed, it became so serious, and he leant over to stub the end of his cigarette out and then breathed in and looked back at me with the same severe expression.

"I don't want you to talk to Jacob Black ever again."

"Sorry…what did you just say?" I was just struck with shock. I think I got it wrong but I was sure he just ordered me not to see Jacob again.

"I don't want you to see or talk to him," he simply said. He was still close to my face and it all felt surreal.

For the first time ever his eyes seemed vulnerable and I didn't know what to say. I was taken by his expression, hell I was pretty fucking surprised with what shit he just came out with.

I didn't have time to respond in any way whatsoever.

He leaned over me and grabbed the side of my waist. That was when he started kissing me. His kisses were intense – now I knew why he had so many lovers. His tongue started to massage mine; it was like he was stripping my guard down, bit by bit as I gave into him. I felt so fucking angry with what he had just said but my other senses were overriding me as well. His hands were desperately seeking my body, wanting to get to know me.

He roughly grabbed the back of my legs and dragged me under him. He started to lightly bite my bottom lip which caused me to gently moan.

He knew what he was doing.

And I was letting him.

He started to move down my neck, giving me soft kisses that shook every nerve in my body, as he was doing so he was grinding into me. I knew where this would lead to and then it occurred to me what he was treating me like – an object.

He told me who I could see for some strange reason and then…._this._

At this point my wig was already partially off my head.

"Edward, get the fuck off of me," I raised my voice. He abruptly stopped for a second, and then looked up, slightly confused.

I planted both of my hands on his chest and drove him straight off of me so I could stand up off the sofa.

"What are you doing?" He asked in a tone like what I just did was laughable. Maybe I was being an idiot, since at the back of my head I had wanted this.

I turned around and gave him my death glare.

"Who the hell do you think you are?!" I felt fucking enraged.

He shook his head laughing bitterly.

"I'm your fucking boss."  
"If you're my 'fucking boss' then why the fuck did you just play that move? I could get you fired for this!"

The same intimidating laughter made a comeback.

"No, Aurora, _you couldn't."_

He sounded so self assured, it made my legs judder ever so slightly.

"Well, why the fuck are you telling me who I can't see? It's my fucking life I can see who I want to see!"

"So you want to see him then?" His voice lowered.

"I would prefer to see him over you any day! You could never be as half as fucking decent as he is!" I shouted.

He glared at me with a face which was rock hard and the only thing we could hear was the music from the party. I would have been lying if I said that I was ready to tackle the next line he would throw at me.

He jolted up off of the sofa which caused me to immediately take one step back.

"Get the fuck out." He casually said whilst taking another cigarette out.

I was glued to the spot, shaken to the bone. Did he just tell me to get out?

He took a second look to see that I hadn't moved a muscle.

"Get yourself and your whore-like attitude out of office before I fucking fire you!" He shouted at me, _loud_.

I couldn't have got out fast enough, confusion embraced me with open arms, and fearful quakes were jittering through every muscle. I was at the brink of tears. It was the second time I had returned from his office with an entirely different feeling as to when I went in.

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**I would love to know what you think (:**


	5. She's a Marc Jacobs wearing Maneater

**Disclaimer: SM owns everything Twilight related.**

**A big thanks to those who have reviewed, FoxFireCard and JuSJaZ82 (I hope I've gotten that right), you don't know how much your reviews mean to me!**

**And of course to my beta, Ohgeekyone, she knows her stuff, you must go and read her story The Swan Sisters! Big recommendation from me!**

**Please, enjoy. (:**

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I had a restless night when I came back from the so called party. The next morning I woke up early, had a quick shower and caught the 9:56 train back to my parents. I wasn't going to stay in Manchester this weekend and lounge about helplessly around my apartment going through what had happened the previous night. I cringed just thinking about it; I just wanted to go back into bed and whip the duvet over my head and hide.

So, the rest of my weekend wasn't eventful, but uneventful was exactly the prescription I needed. When I went back to my old house my mum was overjoyed to see me, which made me feel relaxed. It was nice to be back on familiar ground.

She asked me the usual questions.

"How's work? Is everything better now?" She always seemed intrigued.

I guess it's what mothers do: ask question after question. I kind of always missed that when I was away.

"Oh yeah, its pretty boring now." That was a blatant lie, but obviously she didn't _need_ to know.

My mum and I had that mother-daughter time and went into town. The shopping reminded me of the reasons why I'd moved. There was the same stuff being modelled in every window we passed, and Topshop was the only place worth having a look in. So I persuaded my mum to buy me a couple of items of clothing and later we bought some hair dye, so I spent that Saturday night vanishing the dull dark roots with the 'Ash Blonde' colour I always went for. I wanted to go back to work looking like a cool independent young woman; _I am a cool independent young woman._

I rejected every Manchester related call. My phone kept on buzzing with calls from Rosalie; she sent me a text telling me to ring her ASAP. I knew I was being ignorant but I also knew it would just be me listening and her incessantly talking about her latest lay.

Jasper had rung me. Just the once. I stared at my beloved phone and just watched his name flashing. I ignored that too, I didn't need it, and I knew if he was inviting me out somewhere I would start to desperately want to be back in Manchester.

When I arrived back that Sunday night, I felt drained and I couldn't understand why. I went to bed around half eight and I clenched my eyes shut, although sleep didn't come. I kept growing more and more frustrated; I could feel myself wanting to fall into a deep slumber but it was like my brain couldn't shut down and my thoughts kept on turning around in my head.

On Monday morning I woke up before my alarm. I didn't lounge in bed like usual, I just shot up. I had my usual shower and used some free sample shampoos and conditioners which I'd got given whilst I was on my way out of Selfridges a few weeks ago. I also had the time to shave my legs. I wanted to return to Selfridges feeling strong and confident.

I pulled over my new black cosmic dress and spent an outrageous amount of time on my newly-dyed hair and my make up. I had to make it sexy but subtle.

When I approved with the way I looked, I was quickly out of my apartment door and I felt like I owned the floor I walked on.

I was going to be confident, cool and courageous, that was my target for the day and I could already feel myself achieving this as I strode to Selfridges with a strong smile set on my face. The smile still was intrepidly positioned on my face as I passed Paperchase; I was even surprised when I still held it as I marched passed the FCUK window display. Then I took a step into Selfridges and was met with the MAC make up counter.

That was when it started to hesitate.

I kept on walking strong though; I took the elevators up to my work space, going to my locker first.

I tried to not nervously tug at the back of my dress or mess about with my hair. I tried to have a demure aura about me. I placed my possessions in my locker and as I entered back onto my floor, I only kept my eyes fixed on my space. Seth was dancing around spraying perfume about the empty place.

That put me at ease again.

Then he caught me nearing towards the Super Brand section.

"Hey honey," he greeted me cheerfully.

"Hello!" I replied trying to be bright and breezy, but I had this anxious nagging feeling that I knew that Edward was in the building, _right now._ That put me on edge.

Well, more than on edge…more like falling off the edge.

He started to play with his curls whilst evaluating my outfit. It was what we did everyday - we were fashion obsessed monsters.

I stared at his outfit; he looked like he had fallen into a Vivienne Westwood rail. Viv West chequered trousers and a black cardigan, with the sign stitched on his left side. He finished off his Vivienne themed look with the pirate boots. It really took a courageous person to carry off all this - it was a good thing that he _was_ courageous. So I shot him my best approving look.

"I'm loving the look babe, you always get it right." He winked at me.

"Thanks…" I tried to be gracious by his compliment but I couldn't expel the worry. I momentarily thought he could tell as his eyes flinched at the phoney expression on my face.

He decided not to question it though, which sent a rush of relief.

"God it's bloody dead in here this morning," he noted, staring around the floor.

"Maybe you're driving the customers off with your perfume!" I mocked, trying to be normal. This _was_ normal.

"Pah! I don't bloody think so, unless our customers have lost taste, and for your information Aurora Samuels, I don't wear substandard shit, not like that Lauren Mallory who slaps on the cheap Diesel more than a prostitute!" He flamboyantly explained.

Okay, I started to feel my smile creeping back up.

"Well Seth, we are in a recession," I sighed.

"Yes and when will these people learn that we have to buy ourselves out of this recession?!"

Seth's resolution to any problem was to 'buy his way out of it'… although this time, he was right.

All I did was shrug at his comment.

He tottered back behind the counter.

"Hey 'Rora, I got this week's Heat." He told me like it was the best thing ever. It would probably be the highlight of the day, since trade could be slow on Monday's.

So I joined him behind the counter and we flicked through the glossy tabloid. We went through the usual celeb stories, something on Victoria Beckham and then Cheryl Cole. We were only half reading as we just made remarks on the pictures.

Mainly the remarks came from Seth who came out with lines such as 'Oh, she looks like a tangoed skeleton' or 'She looks like she's been dragged through the rejects of Primark'.

Then we turned to the usual celeb sightings page.

"God, Lady Gaga is everywhere at the moment." I pointed at her in her bizarre catsuit.

"I think I know what I'm wearing this weekend." He smiled.

Seth loves the Gaga. If you couldn't tell Seth is diva obsessed. He cried at Whitney Houston's comeback, he was 100% behind Chris Crocker and his 'leave Britney alone' vid'.

So yeah, sometimes on the weekend he liked to dress up. Especially as the Gaga.

"So, Miss Samuels, are you going out this weekend?" He asked me before we victimised somebody else's outfit.

"Hmm, depends if I have the money," I nonchalantly answered.

I thought I was being a power woman today?! Where was the cool answer?

"Come on babe, hasn't Alan Sugar rung you up offering to wine and dine you?"

I had to rethink what he just said.

No, I still didn't get what he was on about.

"Er, come again?" I asked.

"Rosalie told me about that guy who owned the hotel tycoon." He pointed at me playfully like he had sussed me out.

Then it snapped. Jacob.

I shook my head in disbelief, amazed how there was no such thing as secrets in the land of Rosalie.

"She just can't help herself, can she?" I huffed.

"Why? Is this a big secret?" He asked me, his voice getting slightly higher like major scandal was coming his way.

"Well he hasn't called me yet, but don't go about telling people," I breathed. "It's nobody's business _anyway." _ It wasn't anybody's business, but really, it annoyed me that I didn't get one fucking call from him this weekend, it wasn't hard to pick up the phone and call.

"Oh sweetie, he'll call." Seth sent me his sympathetic smile. I just gently nodded in return.

Then silence hung about and it made me think of Jacob. Tall, handsome, confident Jacob. There was nothing _not_ to like about him, but what had been heavily on my thoughts this weekend was: why didn't Edward and Jacob like each other? Well they didn't even have to like each other - it was just the fact that I could _feel_ an intense cut-throat _hatred_ between the two. Edward's hatred seemed to have been deeper than Jacob's, but that was probably because Jacob seemed like a fucking saint next to Edward, who was a complete arsehole.

"Oh my God, Edward Cullen has been papped!" I heard Seth's voice call out.

"I know," I sighed. "Rosie and I saw him the other week." I didn't want to look straight away, I didn't want to look eager, but I had never felt so curious. It was yearning inside of me and I just wanted to swivel my head and sponge in every detail of the photo.

"Ooh he looks like he had company that night, _sly dog!"_

As soon as I heard 'company', my cool, independent Aurora started to drown. All these feelings came tumbling down upon me: jealousy, fury, sickness…and hurt. My eyesight wavered over the photo and of course it was Edward. He was wearing _his_ crooked grin. For a stupid moment I'd thought he only shone that smile for me. It was his paparazzi smile.

I didn't dare look at the bitch that was snugly wrapped on his arm; she probably had cheap venom crawling out of her pores. I took another glance over Edward.

Then the light bulb flashed. That button in my brain clicked.

He was wearing what he wore last Friday. His so called 'James Bond' outfit.

I think that killed me the most. He probably called this trout who was slung on his arm beautiful too. What he said to me was nothing. I felt pretty dumb, how could I have been so naïve?

He was walking away from the same club he had been pictured last time: Circle.

I reluctantly decided to look at which brand of meat he went for. I already had a picture of this girl; I bet she was stick thin, too much lipstick on her lips, fake extensions that didn't match her hair colour. I hoped she was fucking ugly.

She was blonde – ha-ha of course, he was probably in the mood for blondes that night. She was wearing a white fluttery dress.

A white fluttery dress. The image repeated in my mind and I heard a sharp gasp next to me.

Nothing was said though.

The picture quality on her face wasn't the best and I found myself leaning towards the photo so I could take a better look. Who gave a shit if I looked eager now? I wanted to know if this was who I thought it was.

I linked up every feature to hers.

It was her.

The photo was clearly Edward with a smug Rosalie on his arm.

***

She was on afternoons, so I would see her about 12. Seth was astonished, he basically talked my ear off and I just responded back with 'I know,' or sometimes 'I'm not surprised.'

I was sedated with shock. I couldn't believe it. She added fuel to all the feelings I felt at that moment, I just wanted to go on a rant and cry 'How could she do this to me?!'

….but, she didn't know.

I barely knew. Since Edward's arrival all I could hear was ambiguous questions echoing in my head. There were things I wanted to know about him but I always tensed up around him. I knew he was a womanizer though, I knew it. I just didn't want to believe it.

Now he was gallivanting with my best friend. Or maybe it was a one off. It probably was – it's Rosie, would she really go into a relationship with him?

Then my heart turned.

She'd wanted to go into a relationship with Emmett. She was dead set on it; I wondered how Emmett would feel? Would he care? Maybe….maybe not. I mean, it was not the first time she had been with someone else whilst the two of them had been in their flirting and sexual tension kind of relationship.

Then again, it wasn't splattered in the shiny tabloids.

I knew Emmet was genuine about Rosalie, and this was Selfridges. He was bound to find out, plus I think Seth had already told some of the lingerie girls whilst he was in the stockroom.

I went to lunch alone and bought some tomato soup. I sat alone on one of the cafeteria tables. Aurora the strong was no more. Fucking Rosalie had to screw everything up; it always had to be about Rosalie. I stirred my spoon around the creamy soup and when I picked the spoon up I would dollop it back into the bowl so it made a splodge-y pattern.

When I finished messing around with my food I went back to the reality that was waiting for me in Super Brands.

Rosalie was gleaming. Rosalie looked cool and independent. Rosalie looked like she had a weekend fulfilled with multiple orgasms.

I wanted to grind Rosalie's head in the floor.

Although I could only muster up a bitter half-hearted smile.

When she gained my eye contact I instantly knew she was begging to tell me. This probably was what I was meant to have heard by phone.

I was starting to regret not picking up.

Of course I took in what she was wearing – her Marc Jacob's asymmetric black dress, I knew for a fact it was her favourite as it showed off her amazing body and her cup size, I also knew for a fact it was one of her most expensive dresses. _I wouldn't have said it was suitable for work._

I knew I was going to have to be civil, but different acidic thoughts were registering through my head.

"Hey." _Hey Rosalie…or more like fucking Jezebel! _

"Oh my God, I've been ringing you non-stop this weekend, where were you?"

"I went to visit my parents and I left my phone at home." _I ignored them…because I couldn't give a shit about the increase in your libido._

"Uh, trust you to forget your phone!" she laughed.

I just laughed along. _I'm really laughing because you're his second option._

"You'll never guess who I got with on the weekend!" Her eyes were screaming with delight.

"Edward Cullen." _I know this because your slutty escapades are pasted in Heat. I'm sure your mother is so proud._

Her perfectly shaped eyebrows furrowed together and she displayed that pathetic pout she always does. I, on the other hand, felt some satisfaction bursting her bubble.

"How did you know?" she immediately said, I could detect that she was disappointed that she didn't tell me first.

I reached my hand at the back of the counter where we had stored the Heat magazine. The page which she was on was folded and I quickly spread it open in front of her.

It took a second before she recognized herself in the photo. _Fucking idiot._

She squeaked at the sheer sight of herself in our prestigious Heat mag which has helped us out on all the gloomy days. I couldn't help but glower down at the rumour starting, bullshit-y magazine.

She looked up at me with her eyes filled with glee. Then she suddenly tore the photo out.

"I'm so keeping this, I'll probably show it to my children!" she joked.

I still didn't say anything; I just watched her in her own narcissistic world.

She stared at the photo for a couple of minutes, whilst I watched Seth help out the only customer in our department, I heard him telling her she looked fabulous, and as I caught a look at the woman who was walking around in the dress, it was obvious that the dress was too small.

"It was an incredible night, Aurora," she said effervescently.

Images cropped up in my mind of the two of them together, his disgusting hands through her hair and then his hands would eagerly unzip her dress. I bet Rosalie didn't hesitate one bit. I bet she did what she was told, letting Edward fuck her senseless and probably in his office too! On that leather couch was probably where she left her dignity.

I stood there awkwardly tapping at the counter, not saying anything in response. She didn't seem to notice my sudden lack of speech, at all.

"Awh 'Rora, when I went back out I couldn't find Emmett at all…and then it occurred to me, I ruined the plan. I should have just gone out there and grabbed my man, but I didn't go out in time, and then I sat down on a table with a glass of champagne in my hand, nearly subsiding into tears, _and it was at the time where everyone had somebody._ I was going to go and talk to Seth, but as soon as I got up he was half way out the exit with that Az or Aro or whatever - I don't know what he's called - but just before I was going, Edward came up to me, and you know I've been giving him the eye all week and earlier that night, well you know, he winked at me…" she giggled at the thought. I grunted. Hmm, I bet I sounded attractive. "He was really nice, he told me that it was too early to go home and unless I was Cinderella that would be the only excuse he could let me off, and then he smiled at me, like….it was crooked but dead sexy. I've never seen him smile like that before, so I told him it was _my_ smile…God, I must have been a bit drunk to say that…." She was grinning like a fool.

"Cute." I even tried to smile like I was happy for her. Her_ smile? He smiled like that to me an hour before he got into your pants, bitch._

Still, the discourteous tone of my voice didn't seem to ring into her ears, she was still in her sex adventure fantasy with Cullen.

_I wonder if I would be stood in her exact space with that expression if I never had that outburst._

She finally hit the ground and stared at me with an impish smirk playing on her lips.

She surreptitiously leaned forward. "I am telling you Aurora Samuels, Mr. Cullen is _big,"_ she said in hush tones.

That picture ran through my head. Edward, naked. The image made me ache just thinking about it.

"Aurora….something's wrong." Rosalie stared at me figuring out what was on my mind.

"I'm fine," I replied, rather monotonously, but that couldn't be helped.

She exhaled, "I can see you're not fine." She paused, "Oh shit, it's Edward isn't it?!"

It seemed like everything had hit home in that slow brain of her's. I swallowed and then breathed in slowly; maybe I should just confess and tell her the truth. Maybe that would be the best idea.

But before I could say anything she was in there like a hawk.

"I know you don't like him, but please, like him for me? He's so much nicer than you think, I know you two started off on the wrong foot but, Aurora, just please give him a chance," she pleaded; her bright blue eyes glinting at me.

I huffed, and I didn't make it subtle either.

"So, you think something is going to happen between you two?" I asked, hoping for her to be her usual self.

"Well, I think so."

I sucked in my top lip; this is not what I wanted. This was Edward's fault; he knew exactly what he was doing by sleeping with Rosalie. He was such a skirt-chasing bastard!

"So you don't care that he's known for being a perverted pleasure-seeker?" That came out a lot more bitter than intended.

"Aurora!" she retaliated back like what I said was some sort of blasphemy.

She knew he was, and I never would have put Rosalie down as naïve.

"Well, you know what they say about him…but I suppose at the end of the day it's up to you Rosalie, I just thought you were going to give you and Emmett a crack."

She jolted her head back and her face scrunched into amusement.

"Emmett McCarty? Are you kidding me Aurora?!" She seemed dumbstruck by my proposal.

"No," I retaliated sharply.

She shook her head in such disbelief that I might as well have said that she had just missed the Queen parading through the lingerie section.

"Aurora let me just ask you this…" She paused a second, looking at me like I had been talking ludicrous nonsense. "Would you give up the chance to have a free shopping trip around Chanel and Louis Vuitton so you could buy clothes from the flee market?" Her timbre was icy.

I didn't respond straight away.

I was in deep shock at how she compared Emmett, how she saw him now she'd set her sights on _him_.

It was cruel, but judging by her face she didn't have any regrets.

"But we're not talking about clothes Rosalie," I retorted in a low voice.

"I know," she brightly said, "but I'm just using metaphorical language so you can see it from my point of view."

I didn't respond in anyway whatsoever, I tried to remain pokerfaced.

"Anyway, I don't know why I was thinking about dating Emmett…and then it leading to more. Pfft, I'm glad Edward woke me up to my senses." She stared at the tips of her finger nails – I had never seen her look so shallow before.

I turned around; I couldn't bear to look at her. She made my blood boil just staring at her carefree face. I noticed a customer looking through some Roland Mouret and I decided to swoop in and give her some customer service. I just had to get away.

As I was helping out the woman with dress sizes I watched Seth serving his customer and then he started chatting to Rosalie, I caught both of their eyesight's at once.

They were talking about me.

I tried to just ignore it.

It would be fine. This would all blow over, hopefully soon.

I turned back to the middle aged woman I was serving who had more money than sense.

"Ooh, it that _the_ Edward Cullen?" The woman said, whilst looking over my shoulder.

I sighed for what must've been the hundredth time today, and looked over to see Edward nonchalantly standing near the Stella McCartney rail.

"Yeah, he's one of the new managers of Selfridges…._I think…" _I said that last part quietly, because I didn't know why he was here. He had his own branch of….I'm sure it was huge I.T. stores or something…..no, that was too geeky for him.

He was wearing one of his expensive suits. Then again, did he wear anything else? Uptight prick.

"Oh my, I bet you girls love having him around." The woman was still staring at him. I passed her another Roland Mouret dress.

"I think he's been through half of the women already," I told her monotonously.

She wore a look of distaste, "Hmm, what a shame." And then she walked back into the changing rooms.

I glanced back to Edward. Rosalie sashayed towards him with one of her many seductive smiles occurring in the corner of her mouth. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the pair.

Edward was smiling – he seemed happy _but_ smug. Although, most of the guys who went out with Rosalie were smug. I was watching his lips move but I couldn't tell what he was saying. Well, whatever he was saying it was apparently humorous as Rosalie started to howl with laughter.

His eyes intrudingly moved straight to mine as if he knew I was there, and I caught his cold eyes seeping into mine and as I looked down his face a cruel smirk lingered. He knew I was watching and that was why he came to flaunt this in my face. I turned around, fuming. An apocalypse of fury thundered through every cell of my body.

I was happy that he could see my back because it would look like I was being mature and just ignoring his disgraceful, disgusting behaviour. But, if he saw my face, I was sure every part of him would glow with satisfaction.

The rest of the day seemed silent, the shop was quiet, Rosalie was quiet and I was quiet. It was a relief to finally be able to go home and watch some rubbish television.

I sat on my sofa. I couldn't even cry. There wasn't any point because nothing had happened between the two of us anyway. I suppose at the end of the day I did the right thing. I couldn't stop thinking of last Friday when I was sat on his sofa and his stare was so intense, like he was making a world just between us two, and then he finally delivered his verdict: I was beautiful.

It had made my heart gush; he'd made me feel… special. A guy hadn't said that to me in a long time… well…ever since… _him_. But I didn't want to think about any ex boyfriends and certainly not that one, who lived here and fucked everything up. Who fucked my life up.

My phone started to vibrate on my wooden table. The sound nearly made me have a heart attack; it woke me up from my morbid frame of mind.

So I jumped up and moseyed towards the phone. It was probably mum. She would be asking me what I had for my dinner, how was work, did I have any plans for the weekend. I suppose it would have been better to talk to her than be watching Price Drop T.V.

I picked it up with a harsh sigh.

"Hello?" I answered flatly.

"….Aurora?" I recognized the voice, but I couldn't attach the voice to a face.

"Er…yes?" I replied, kicking myself for not knowing who it was.

"You still up for that date?" The voice cheekily asked.

And then my heart thudded so hard I thought it was going to burst out of my chest.

I felt like an invisible man inside of me had picked up my low spirits.

"Jacob?" I said in disbelief.

"Ah, you remembered." His voice hummed back with happiness.

"Of course, I don't have lots of different men calling me up everyday," I giggled.

I heard a gruff laugh replying back, "So, that date?"

Okay, I needed to prove to myself that I could be cool and confident.

"Hmm, maybe…"

"Maybe?" He chirped back. I could distinctly imagine him right now with that adorable mischievous grin.

"Well, it depends when Mr. Black. I'm a busy woman."

"How about this Friday?"

"Can't," I said, slightly playfully. I perched on my table, feeling like a teenager again as I waited for him to respond.

"Hmmm…" He paused, and I swear I could hear all the clogs in his head grinding together. "Well, I don't have much free time this week, what about lunch on Thursday?"

"I'm working…" I started swinging my legs underneath the table.

"You sound busier than me."

"Well, it can't be helped if my presence is desired," I joked; I found this statement funnier because I had a _lot_ of free time this week.

"I should note down somewhere that I have to book you three weeks in advance,"

"Ah, you and your notes." I was biting my bottom lip at that point, enjoying our little conversation.

"I know, I never have had to make so many on a woman before."

"Hmm, I'm sure."

"Well, I demand that you come out with me tomorrow for dinner, of course I'll pay." His carefree boyish attitude was still thriving through his voice.

"You demand?" I questioned, although I liked the term he used.

"Okay…I don't demand, I just thought you might want a man that took charge." He laughed.

_I do like a man who can take charge._

"Although, it would be nice if you could come out on a date with me tomorrow," he continued.

I thought for a moment. Of course I was free tomorrow.

_Oh, but I might miss '_Hollyoaks_'_…

I seriously needed a life.

"I'd like that."

"Really?"

"Yes. You can pick me up outside Century apartments…it's near Selfridges," I told him.

"About nine o'clock?" he asked

"You're a late diner."

"Well, it's hard for me to fit you into my schedule."

"Oh, do you say this to all the girls?"

"Only you," he laughed. "So then, tomorrow, at nine?"

"That's fine," I happily said.

"Okay, well, till then."

"Till then." And I clicked the red button on my phone.

I had a date with Jacob Black tomorrow.

It didn't sink it.

I found it hard to sink in that he had even called.

What to wear? The immediate thought kicked into my head and I rushed to my bedroom searching through my wardrobe with a huge dopey smile.

I really hoped Jacob Black got chased by the Paparazzi.

* * *

**So I know she sounds a bitch in this, but come on, I would be thinking the same things, and don't say you wouldn't...'cause I know you would!**

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	6. Let's not have a Temperley Tantrum

**Disclaimer: Twilight characters belong to SM. **

**Sorry for the long updates, it took me ages to write this chapter and now I'm happy with it - thanks to my brilliant beta Ohgeekyone - I hope she has a fantastic new year and maybe her new year could bring a sneaky romance with one of her good looking neighbours! **

**Also a big thanks and a ma-hoo-sive happy new year to my lovely reviewers: FoxFireCard and JuSJaZ82.  
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**I hope you enjoy, happy new year everybody and let's make it a good one!**

**Kitty.**

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I slept comfortably that night; it wasn't a long tiresome night of tossing and turning, which I was pretty thankful for, as bags were meant to be an accessory on your shoulders – not under your eyes.

The next morning, I woke up to the dazzling sunlight which shone through my window (which was nice for an October morning) and a smile brimmed around my face. I, Aurora Samuels, was going on a date with a young, charismatic, successful and don't forget handsome, money mogul. _Pinch me._

I did think about it a lot before I went to bed the night before. As much as I hated to admit it; I was really excited. But I was also a little bit nervous – although they were _good_ nerves, if you could ever have good nerves. I just didn't want to blurt out something stupid that would scare him off.

This meant I would have to follow the prestigious rules of: How to keep a man on his toes. These rules weren't based upon the foundation of 'treat them mean, keep them keen' (because let's face it, the normal woman usually let her guard down and it was never really that successful in the first place).

So the 'rules' were what Rosalie and I used to talk about on our lunch breaks or weekend sessions (yes, Rosalie thought she was doing the best friend thing in sharing her wisdom). Seth also put in some of his suggestions too, although some were barbaric and therefore were not included, or even mentioned.

**How to keep a man on his toes: The Do's and Don't's of dating:**

1. Do not get drunk. Yes, one glass or two glasses of wine is fine – but know your limits. Getting too drunk can lead to: a) Emotional breakdowns or incessant chatter about your nasty ex's (Big no!) b) Talking loudly and swearing like a sailor (Your date doesn't want to think they can't take you out anywhere!) c) Vomiting. (No Goodnight kisses….probably, ever.)

_Although Seth thinks it's okay to get your date drunk._

2. Listen carefully to what your date says, and try to be interested. Even if it's about football - oh, for Jacob I guess it would be 'soccer'….

3. Wear sexy underwear. Don't be afraid to bring out the French lace, you don't know where your date will end, but your life will end if your date sees you wearing your comfy floral pants which reach over your belly button.

4. Don't get too personal. Like what you look for in a marriage or how old your grandmother was when she had children...

5. Facebook your date in advance, see what he's like. _But, Seth thinks that you should specially make an account so you don't seem overly interested. But we thought that seemed a bit…stalker-ish. Seth argued that you can delete the account after, and it's not stalker-ish - it's being nosey._

Unfortunately, number five was a no-go. Who would have thought the moderately famous Jacob Black didn't have a Facebook?

I did manage to Google him, though, and he had his own Wikipedia page!

That was when it really sunk in about who he was, and it only encouraged my excitement….I was dating somebody with their own Wikipedia page! I wondered if we ever got married my name would be added to the page and if you clicked on it, it would be a blue link and would lead to a picture of me….

Anyway, I had to think less about marriage - I was not prepared to sign my life away at twenty-one. And we hadn't even been on a date yet. I did click on his page…it didn't say much. It just talked about the history of Pacific Hotels and his family. I got bored…..would that make me a bad future girlfriend?

So that morning I was happily getting ready for work, and as I held my adored Chanel bag, I rubbed my thumbs on the fine leather and then the memory of me standing in the Starbucks queue occurred in my mind. I remembered scolding myself for tapping at my new bag so thoughtlessly, and then I felt a smile on my face. I thought of how angry I had gotten at Edward Cullen and it was only the first time I had met him. My smile still stayed glued onto my face as I remembered all the petty feelings I had chained up inside of me – why did it feel so long ago when it was only just a couple of months? I sighed and thought about the charity party, and I remembered me and Edward in his office, sitting on that sofa. For a moment he had fooled me into thinking he actually held sincere feelings for me.

And then another thought occurred in my mind. I wondered what Edward would think about me going out with Jacob tonight? That thought alone made me hum whilst I placed my bag back down on my bed and I continued to do my hair. It actually felt great that Edward would hate this, and I wouldn't have classed myself as the vengeful type either. But after the look that he gave me yesterday - the malevolent look in his eyes when he was talking to Rosalie - I knew _he_ was most definitely the vengeful type. So, I could only hope he found out about me and Mr. Black

As I set off to Selfridges I couldn't help but feel slightly smug. I was early too which was a bonus. This seemed to be my day. As I was on the escalator, I had officially decided that the whole Edward situation was _so_ yesterday. I needed to get over it. Having this new refreshed feeling really was great. All I could do was hope it would last.

I hung my coat and stashed my handbag in my locker and after I set off to Super Brands as per. I noticed Rosalie, standing by herself next the Max Mara rail; her mind seemed to have run off into space.

As my heel-clapping became louder as I approached the section, her eyes flicked over to me, knocking her out of her trance. Suddenly, her expression seemed sheepish. This was a look I hadn't seen many times before.

"Rosalie," I acknowledged her.

"Hey," she replied and tried to remain eye contact with me.

I couldn't hold it. It wasn't because I was bitter about yesterday; it was because I didn't want her to reel me back in and just laugh about yesterdays situation.

An awkward silence started to grow between us. I knew I couldn't keep quiet for any longer – anyway, I needed to be a lot more mature about the whole situation now. She was with Edward. They seemed like a suitable couple, they had pretty similar sexual habits…I'm sure they had plenty to talk about.

So I took a deep breath, brought my shoulders back and clasped my hands together and smiled.

"Has business been quiet?" I casually asked.

"Yeah, well you know what it's like these days."

Rosalie sounded and looked guilty, no mistake about that. And I had to confess, a small part of me liked it.

"Hmm, great," I answered drearily.

I could feel her tense up beside of me and then she released a long sigh.

"Sorry about yesterday 'Rora, I thought about the whole Emmett comment and I know I was being stupid. It's just….I'm so happy with Edward." I stared at her and she wore a smile which said 'forgive me'.

"Don't worry about it." I breathed, I wasn't going to forgive her just like that, but this was Rosalie. So it definitely was a start. "How are you and Edward, anyway?" I couldn't refrain myself from asking. Secretly I knew I was curious about the nature of their 'relationship' – were they all cosy? Were they getting on each other's nerves? Was it only about the sex?

In the back of my mind, I _wanted_ to know.

"I think it's going along okay. He took me on a date yesterday, you know, to that new Brazilian near House of Fraser. We had a really good time…he's such a gentleman….I think it could get serious…." She started to get bashful. She reminded me of a school girl. This side of Rosalie seemed . . . weird. She was meant to be the strong independent woman who had men like Edward for dessert, but the mere mention of his name turned her into melted butter.

"Oh." That was the only syllable that escaped my mouth; I thought I should elaborate, so I didn't sound like a total jealous bitch, "Well…I'm glad you two are….working." Then I pulled out a false smile – just for her, to see that I didn't care about them hooking up.

I honestly didn't know what was coming over me.

"Thanks!" She grinned at my approval, "How about we go for some kind of…peace drinks tonight? It could be fun."

"Peace drinks?" I questioned, acting like I didn't know there was any type of war between us.

"Yeah…I know you didn't approve about the Edward situation…and then I pulled out that comment about Emmett. I just wanted to make it up – they're on me." She pulled her Cheshire cat smile out.

"Tempting," I answered, and then I found that this was the opportunity to flaunt my news, "but I have a date with Jacob at nine."

Her eyes widened in pure shock.

"What…you mean the hotel owner?" She asked incredulously.

"Er, yes." I laughed, albeit, slightly maliciously. She obviously didn't think it would have happened.

"Wow, Aurora." She inhaled and looked at me with glimmering eyes. "I suppose we're growing up. Getting rich boyfriends – exactly what we always wanted."

I supposed it was what we always wanted. Whenever we went out and got too drunk we always ended up having them heart to hearts in the corner of the bar, saying things about how we deserved better. That always annoyed me – _she never had bad._ But we decided that we would get with gorgeous millionaires – or really old men who had billions and left all their money in their will for us. We would drink Sangria in Spain whilst topping up on our cinnamon tans, not having to break sweat in work ever again. No more 'Can I help you madam' or 'that is so your colour, you look fabulous!'

"I'll tell you what, we'll have that drink about 7.30 and you can meet him somewhere close, if that's okay?"

I thought it over once again. I supposed it wouldn't be too bad.

"Okay, go on then." I smiled back.

Rosalie bit her bottom lip to suppress herself from a girlish scream. "It's going to be such a laugh and I have so much to tell you!" Her face nearly exploded in excitement at the end of the sentence. I just made one of them 'awh-ing' noises, like when you see a baby sleeping.

After a few seconds of not being able to come up with any real conversation, I decided to walk off and stand by myself. Rosalie and I still weren't tension free, but our friendship was building again from yesterday's tiff. I thought I could use this little break from each other to just act professional and make sure everything was in order on the rails. After I did that, I had nothing else to do. Work could be so slow at times. But somebody noticed my lack of enthusiasm and I soon got told by our temporary floor manager to bring out some more Alice Temperley dresses – but keep them in their packaging. Apparently it would make the dresses seem a lot more desired if customers caught us looking like we were restocking.

_The managers can really be full of shit at times._

So I got sent into the stockroom, hit by that plastic-y new smell. The stockroom always made me feel detached. Everything was new and unspoilt, and the staff were always walking in and out.

As I passed the sports facilities area to get to the fashion, I saw somebody who I really didn't want to see because oddly enough, I felt guilty.

It was Emmett, stacking weights on a trolley. I couldn't walk past him without saying anything – that would seem rude and I now found myself in an awkward position. I took a closer look at his actions and it broke my heart. He didn't have the usual enthusiasm and warmth which just radiated from his personality.

Emmett sold sports equipment – they couldn't have hired a better guy. He seemed the type you would depend on to know what kind of shuttle-cock you needed or how much exercise you should do in a week to slim down to that perfect size. To add to his perfect resume, he was just so.....beefy. Well, that's what most girls saw when they first set their eyes on him. But I knew there was so much more to him; he was kind and funny – a brotherly type of guy. I knew this because, unlike other girls, I actually got to know him. The real him. There was no sexual attraction between us, well not on my half anyway, so it wasn't like he needed to act a particular way around me. I went out with him a lot, always with Jasper as the two knew each other before I knew Jasper.

I just wished Rosalie could see that.

"Hi Emmett," I said softly.

He looked down at me and smiled; his signature smile had had better days.

"Aurora, not seen you out in a while."

"Yeah, well, I've got to save the pennies for Christmas – only two pay cheques left," I told him.

He just nodded in response.

"How're you feeling?" I could feel my eyes close into concern. I really didn't want them to, but I had to ask him and I didn't want to seem indifferent. I knew how much he liked Rosalie; he wasn't like that with any other girl. When he was with her it looked like it was all banter and flirting but when I went on a night out and he was there, he used to always ask about her.

"Well, how do you think I feel?" He tried to keep it light-hearted, but I detected a sense of bitterness to that line.

"If it's any consolation – I don't think they'll last."

He stared at the box of female weights which he held tightly in his hands. He then let out a deep sigh.

"I just can't believe she's going out with such a prick, I always thought she was careful." He still sounded like he had some admiration left for Rosalie. She really didn't deserve him.

"I know, I know. You know what I think Em, you're so much better than Edward is, she doesn't know what she wants – but she'll come around. I hope, anyway. This is so unlike Rose." That was my best attempt to console him. I still had a sharp pang in my chest; the guilt was eating away at me like a maggot eating old fruit.

A silence lingered and I bit my lip. He was obviously still torn about it.

"Anyway, I thought you were Eddie Cullen's number one bitch?" I winked at him. A gruff laugh erupted from his lungs. Finally, the smile which I'd longed to see.

"If he still thinks I'm his bitch he should wait for me to bite him on the ass."

I giggled – I'll admit, it was a little forced, but I felt it was needed to ease the tension.

"So, which bitch around here ran up to you and told you the news about Rosalie and her latest prey?"

"Lauren," he told me and then hesitated. "She was really nice about it actually. She asked me if I wanted a few drinks with her at the Simple bar. I just didn't feel in the mood – y'know?"

I nodded in response. "God, Cullen's such a dick, the way he flirts with the staff is just, so, distasteful. He really is jus--"

I immediately stopped when I felt a foreign presence behind me.

"This isn't a school playground; leave the jealous moaning out of the workplace, thank you. You have a job and we don't pay you to stand about talking about other members of staff," I heard Edward's voice coldly say behind me.

I felt a pink flush spread across my cheeks; I really didn't have anything to say back. And the most horrid feeling was hitched in my throat. This was unbelievably embarrassing - it felt like a bad dream.

I looked up at Emmett whose jaw seemed firmly locked. It was fair to say that he was pissed off. I wanted to stand there, with my back facing Edward all day, but I knew I had to turn around and face him. I was having doubts if I would have been able to look him in the eye.

I slowly turned around with all the courage I had, only to be greeted with a bemused expression on Edward's face. I opened my mouth to say something to the irritating look, but then I hesitated.

"What's the point…." I muttered whilst I turned away. I gritted my teeth whilst doing so, you can never win against Edward Cullen; just everything about him angered me. Why did he have to be with Rosalie? Why did he have to come in and disrupt things? What really was the point in arguing with him? I knew he would try to piss me off and ruin my day. So I walked to the area which I had intended to go all along: the fashion area which was near the back of the ill-lighted stockroom. I needed the Temperley dresses. I reached the next metallic shelf which held the different types of gym stock which were stacked up high, and as I walked around it I stopped, and I couldn't help but have a sneaky look back.

The image I saw was Emmett standing there, still looking annoyed and Edward was speaking to him, and then Emmett shook his head. I wondered what they were talking about. I was intrigued because Emmett's body language was so tense, I was sure he was going to strike out and pull one fist out to smack Edward clean around his jaw. I'm sure Emmett could have taken him.

Suddenly my heart beat rose higher as Emmett took one step toward Edward briskly. Edward laughed callously. Would this have triggered Emmett's temper? I wasn't sure what I should have done; I didn't want Emmett to lose his job. Words were still being exchanged between the two. Should I have just left and pretended I'd never seen anything happening? I wasn't so sure if that was the best option.

Thankfully, Emmett stormed out and slammed the door behind him, the harsh sound of the door sent shudders down my spine. I stared at Edward who was left in the same spot, his gaze fell to the floor - just for a second – and then he turned to the direction I left and started to charge up the same route I had used. I could feel my eyebrows furrow together and I instantly power-walked to the fashion section. When I got there, I finally retrieved the dresses and went back out. I didn't see Edward once. I tried to forget the situation I had just encountered, but I kept on grimacing at the thought that Edward had heard me talking about him behind his back. I bet I sounded like such a spiteful bitch.

After I'd finished neatly displaying the Alice Temperley dresses along the rails, the attention of a short woman had caught my eye. I was thinking whether I should have asked her if she needed any help because she was here before I had come out with the dresses. She kept on glancing over to me. I was sure she needed my help, for whatever reason.

I walked over with my Selfridges smile.

"Hello, are you okay there madam?" I asked in the sweetest voice I could muster.

"Yes, I was just wondering which of these scarves makes me look younger?" She asked, placing each scarf separately to her skin.

If I could, I would have sighed heavily and done a full on eye roll, but I couldn't. Who had ever heard of a scarf making a woman look younger?

I tried to give her my best advice although I wasn't in the right frame of mind as I kept going over the stockroom situation. Why did Edward always complicate things?

***

When the work day was over, I took a hot steamy shower and afterwards I started the tricky task of apply moisturiser from a near-empty bottle. I was stood there for at least five minutes trying to squeeze out some liquid, but all I got was tiny white pearls spraying out of the tube. I obviously needed to take a trip out to buy some more moisturiser, meaning more money expenditure. The thought of spending money these days was becoming a daunting one.

Apart from this, I was raring to go for my night out. First it would be peace drinks with Rosalie and she would order something extremely strong so she could cry her regrets on my shoulder - hopefully including a proper apology (I on the other hand, would only have half a lager, as I needed to be strict to the dating rules). After plucking my strays out from my eyebrows, I pulled over my black and white Natalia dress which lay loosely across my shoulder and then pulled up a pair of black transparent tights and accompanied them with black chunky heels.

My insides felt like they were wound up from excitement. I wondered where Jacob would take me. Would it be somewhere expensive? Would we be going French or Italian? Would we go back to his place afterwards?

Even though there were no rules about sex on the first date, I didn't think it was the best idea. I mean, I wanted to, but I also didn't want it to be a one-night-er. This could all be a scheme to get me into bed for all I knew…..well, Jacob really didn't seem the type. _How did I know that I wasn't a component to a plan?_

I should have really toned down on the pessimism as I didn't want to bring that attitude to the table. Although I could have brought the negative behaviour to the peace drinks – after all, I always supported and comforted Rosalie in self-doubting times.

Before I walked onto the street, I put a squirt of perfume on and then I took one last look around my apartment. It looked like it had been turned upside down, so if anything was going to happen after our date - nobody was coming back here tonight, full stop.

When I left, nightfall was already upon me and the October wind was starting to uncomfortably blow over my bare skin. I wished I had brought a coat. Naturally, I was more than happy when I arrived at Corbieres, the pub that felt like home, and the first thing I felt was the welcoming warmth surrounding me. I was then hit by the hearty-ale kind of scent and the shimmer of wine bottles being displayed. I looked over to the bar and nodded to the bartender who had seen me drunk several times and we now knew each other on a first name basis. I decided that was the first thing I would do before I got properly settled down, so I order half a lager and lime, bobbing my head to _The Smiths._

As I was waiting for my drink, I checked the time on my mobile. I grinned. I was at least fifteen minutes late. I didn't have to be on time - Rosalie was never on time - but I hoped she was already here and then finally, she could have understood how it felt to be waiting by yourself with a drink and looking like a lonely alcoholic.

When I had paid for my drink I turned around, trying to do the whole head held high thing. I hoped that we didn't have to talk about Edward and his 'long schlong' non-stop throughout the night. So, I looked over to the booth where I always sat - honestly, mine and Jasper's name should have been carved under the table. I sighed. Jasper and I used to meet up here around eight o'clock nearly every Friday. It was weird that I hadn't spoken to him in a while. It'd been over a month since the 'incident' (I shouldn't even have to call it that) and I'd only received one call. It was fair to say that I missed him. I was starting to really regret not answering the phone that day.

As I was saying, I spotted my favourite booth and started to walk over to it. I could see Rosalie supporting some kind of snug sequined number. She already had a drink in her hand, a dry white wine. That was her drink. And then, I felt my eyes squint, she was talking to somebody else. . .

Oh, if only she didn't turn her head to look at me and make full on eye contact, I would have turned around and ran for the hills.

Of course, this was my luck. My luck had landed me in allsorts of situations. The fact I had gotten off on the wrong foot with Edward was a great example - maybe this would have never happened if I didn't have that extra bit of confidence that day.

I kept on walking, even though I had a bad case of butterflies and all I could do was pose a gentle smile - but for crying out loud, I bet she brought him so we could have made amends. I was not a magician - there would have been no miracles of me kissing his feet and gushing about his 'amazing personality'.

"Hello," I greeted them, desperately trying to keep my annoyance hidden.

"Oh, Aurora! I was having doubts that you were ever going to show up!" Rosalie happily chirped.

"Well, I'm here now." Actually that was my magical trick of the night - walking across to the table.

"I hope you don't mind that I brought along Edward - he said he wanted to meet you properly..." She bit her bottom lip; searching for signs that I was pissed.

My eyes flickered over to Edward, who was sitting comfortably with his hand wrapped around a glass of whisky. I wished I didn't look at him - he was wearing a shit-eating grin. I knew if I reacted poorly in any kind of way, Edward would have benefited from it. This was really testing my self control. If I did have it my way (Oh, God forbid!) I would have loved to be able walk over him wearing a pair of stilettos which had ten inch knives for heels. That was a sweet thought to hold onto.

Instead, I took the easier plan and smiled sweetly. Well, as sweet as I could have managed.

"Of course I don't mind Rosalie," I looked back at her. She seemed relieved by my answer - I didn't know I was that good of an actress. _If word spreads hopefully by next week, Hollywood will be on the phone._

I briefly looked back at Edward, I wasn't sure whether he was annoyed or he could see right through my act. He seemed different though, most probably because I'd only ever seen him in a smart suit and shined shoes. Tonight he looked laid back, he was wearing a pinstriped shirt that had a few buttons undone at the top, with a pair of black jeans and a blazer.

"So then Aurora, are you looking forward for tonight?" Rosalie asked me.

I glanced over to Edward momentarily; he looked oblivious to the question. I smirked, which couldn't have been helped, obviously...

"Yeah, should be good."

"Am I missing something, darling?" When Edward said that word, which was laced with a false tone - obviously I could only hear that - he stretched his hand out and grabbed Rosalie's. I watched his large hand envelope hers and he started to rub his thumb along her knuckles.

I immediately felt the pang of jealously. I couldn't understand why. Why was he doing this to me?

I looked up to Edward and could see that glimmer in his eyes.

"Oh, didn't I tell you Edward? Aurora's got a date." Rosalie sounded more excited than I was feeling earlier. She really didn't have to tell him about my date - I wanted to see his face when Jacob walked in.

Edward laughed. "You sound as if Aurora doesn't date. You know Aurora, I've never seen you with a man." _Oh no he did not._

I looked at Rosalie; I think she was oblivious by this inappropriate comment. She just giggled a little.

"Well Edward, I don't go out with just anybody." I smiled sweetly back.

"Oh we know that 'Rora," Rosalie immediately answered. "I've never known anybody as picky as you." _How about, __um, __you?_

"So who's the lucky man?" Edward asked. I could definitely see that this was just an act. He had to be nice to me, and then I would look like the bitchy one who had made a huge drama out of nothing. So I was overjoyed to say who the 'lucky' man was.

"Oh, it's Jacob Black, I don't know if you've ever heard of him?" I innocently said.

I could see his jaw line stiffen as he brought his glass to his lips. Now I was smiling - broadly.

"He owns Pacific Hotels!" Rosalie rung out. I loved Rosalie sometimes.

"Oh yeah Rosie, well remembered! I didn't think you would have since you were a bit, well, um, tipsy." I laughed. I looked over to Edward and smiled. _Wow, tonight really is fun._

"Of course I would have, I stayed at a Pacific Hotel when I went to America last time - it was quite lush. See Eddie, she may be picky but she's no idiot, when she does say yes to somebody, it's usually the right choice." Rosalie smiled at me. I took a drink out of my glass as my smile couldn't be a pleasant one anymore. I looked back at Edward. He looked out of place. Well, in my eyes anyway, but I was pretty sure he felt awkward. I knew I had to change the topic of the conversation.

"So then, Rosalie, how're your parents?" I asked her. This usually led her onto a full blown rant about her mother, and of course, it didn't fail.

Edward remained quiet, he tried to add one or two comments here and there, but if I was being honest he also looked pretty bored. This obviously didn't become the night he'd expected, where he could be judgemental over me or come out with sarcastic comments and find out the ins and outs of my life. I wasn't so sure I would have wanted Edward ever to know anything about my life.

Half an hour later Rosalie had moved from her mother to her father, and how he wanted to sell her horse as she didn't visit them as often anymore. I had zoned out of most of the conversation, but some of the conversation, like when she said, 'Bailey was a shy horse and her new owners wouldn't be able to make her comfortable' actually made me laugh. Edward really didn't know what he got himself into as when he tried to contribute he was shortly cut off by her again. The second time Rosalie did it to him, I heard him sigh, obviously hating being interrupted. I couldn't help but stare at him humorously, and he caught my eye-line. He obviously didn't want me to see his annoyed facial expression, so I smiled - trying not to laugh as Rosalie was still ranting on - and Edward's face fell into a smile too. It was actually genuine. That wasn't like him at all, so I didn't understand. He must have had an ulterior motive for that smile.

I couldn't believe it! I was confused by a smile. That was when I tried to stop sussing him out and I went back to nodding and sympathising with Rosalie.

After a few minutes he bought us all another round. He didn't even ask us. Which I suppose was thoughtful but how did he know I liked lager and lime? Weird.

My eyes kept darting to the door, wondering if Jacob would be here yet. What if he stood me up?

That thought started to daunt over my head; what if he didn't show up? He _was late._ That would have been unbelievably humiliating - Edward would have loved that. And that would have meant I would be forced to quit my job, as I could have never showed my face in Selfridges again.

On that over-dramatic thought, I hastily took another sip of my drink and left the table to go to the bathroom, having to gesture with my thumb where I was going to Rosalie so I didn't 'rudely' interrupt. Five minutes later, I was still in the bathroom. I wondered whether I wanted to go out and face the couple again. I knew Rosalie, so I knew she wouldn't leave until Jacob turned up, so she could and do one of her 'inspections'.

When I brought up all my courage to walk back out again, I felt a nauseating sensation. I was now a definite third wheel; I felt this as I watched Edward's attempt to finally shut Rosalie up, as he had one of his hands on the small of her back and another in her long wavy hair. I just stood there – not knowing whether to walk up or use this precious time to walk out of the pub.

The second option seemed to be the best. I'd have to face it – I wasn't Jacob's type. His type would have been somebody born into aristocracy or a Vogue supermodel. I was just Aurora Samuels the 'fashion consultant'. Why did I feel so second place and insignificant?

Without giving it another thought, I started to walk straight for the wooden doors, hoping that the two loved up couple wouldn't see my brisk departure. Maybe I could have told Rosalie I was ill or something? Would she really have bought it? Well, she would have to…

As I reached the doors, I just couldn't help to have another surreptitious look back at Rosalie and _him._ I looked back, my half of lager was barely touched on the table, and then my eyes lingered over to the pair. I could see Rosalie's back as she looked like she was going to prepare to straddle Edward. Well, it was a dark booth, a lot more isolated than the others… I'm sure she would have gotten away with it.

Then I looked over at Edward, who seemed disinterested. I couldn't understand why; Rosalie had it all, the hair, the boobs, the smile….._the motor mouth._ As I was having one last look at the not-so-romantic display, Edward's deep green eyes suddenly locked with mine. I was caught off guard, _yet again_, and I didn't know why but I took a small step back. He could see that I was going, but he didn't laugh or sneer or tell Rosalie. He just stared at me in this intense and compelling way which made my body freeze, which made me have doubts.

I knew I had to go, so why did my body want to stay? I closed my eyes as my gaze shrank nervously away. For some reason it had felt difficult, but when I opened them I was met with the sight of the wooden door. I couldn't have turned back. I pushed it forward and let the cold night air gush over me. But I didn't care. Edward had seen me leave; he knew that I had been stood up. I was the one who looked stupid now.

I held my Chanel handbag tightly underneath my arm and decided to soldier on back home, trying to expel a feeling which made me cringe; it was a mixture of humiliation and disappointment. When I took my first few steps up the street I looked up to see a drunken woman and a man, sloppily walking a few steps ahead of me, and then all of a sudden I saw a man running up the road. I first felt scared as he was running at an incredibly fast pace and was staring at me.

Jesus Christ! I thought he was going to rob me! You heard about these things happening all the time but you didn't think it would happen to you. Every pulse was thudding beneath my skin; I wasn't sure whether I should have stopped and walked back or kept on walking.

When he was closer, I recognised who he was and I wanted to laugh at my idiocy. It was an out of breath looking Jacob and I immediately stood still, and all my feelings went into reverse as a relieved smile took charge of my face. Eventually, he finally got to his destination and I stood there trying not to laugh.

"Don't look….at me like….that," he said whilst taking deep breaths in between the words.

"I'm sorry, I felt like we were in a Mills and Boone novel. Or, you were coming to steal my handbag," I confessed. He just shook his head laughing. I missed those cheeky features he had on his face which made him so adorable.

"I'm so sorry I'm late, I had some work issues to be dealt with." At least his breathing was starting to come back to normal.

"Ah… if I'm being honest I was just about to leave," I told him.

His face fell and I saw a hint of guilt. He should have felt guilty.

"I really am sorry Aurora; I would never stand up a beautiful woman like you."

I sighed, "Oh, Jacob…flattery really does get you everywhere."

"So, you'll forgive me then?" His beady eyes beamed at me.

"I suppose so," I tried to mask my smile.

"So, am I going to meet your friend, Rosalie, then?"

I didn't answer. How was I meant to say that Edward was in there? He would have thought that I had set him up.

"Oh, she hasn't gone….has she?" He asked, since I still remained silent.

"No, she's still in there," I confessed weakly.

"Well, lets go then."

He placed his hand on the small of my back and then led me back into the pub.

"I don't think it's a good idea Jacob," I told him. Oh God, I hoped nothing would kick off. He looked at me, puzzled, but on the plus side it felt nice to be back inside with the warmth.

"Why?" He asked, sounding unsure. "Is there a boyfriend I don't know about?"

"'Rora, where have you been?!" I heard Rosalie's voice loudly call out to me. Jacob's attention shifted from me to Rosalie.

"I didn't know he was going to be here tonight," I told him, trying to explain myself. He was still confused and then he saw him. He saw Edward Cullen sitting in the booth and Rosalie had just jumped off her seat and started to canter towards us.

"Oh, Aurora you _have_ done well," she said, appraising Jacob. Honestly, Rosalie was more embarrassing than a mother. I stared back up at Jacob: his whole position had tensed up and I knew he was annoyed that Edward was there. This definitely was not what he had planned for our date. I tried to get his attention to ease up with an introduction.

"Rose, this is Jacob Black, Jacob this is Rosalie Hale."

He obviously couldn't have been impolite in front of Rosalie so he lifted up his hand to shake hers, but in true Rosalie style, she grabbed it and then pulled him into an embrace. Why couldn't she have just switch off the flirt button?

"It's very nice to meet you," Jacob said awkwardly.

"This is Edward Cullen, you might have heard of him…" Rosalie said and she giggled towards the end as if he would have been stupid if he had never heard of his name. Rosalie was certainly getting an A* for annoying the heck out of everybody tonight.

"Rose, I think we might head off," I said, trying to save Jacob from having to reply to Rosalie's blissful ignorance.

"What? Why? Jacob has just got here," Rosalie pouted.

"Well, I'm hungry…" That was one of the only excuses I could have countered back – _I know, so lame_.

"Aurora, don't be rude, Edward has just bought you a drink, the least you can do is drink it," Rosalie sniped at me. I could feel my eyes narrow; she obviously wouldn't let us make a quick getaway.

I looked at Jacob, apologetically. He stared down. He looked like he didn't need this, but then he lowered his head next to my ear.

"It'll be okay," he whispered, although it wasn't reassuring as he had his hand gripped onto my shoulder like I was a prized possession.

We made slow steps back to the booth. Edward didn't look pleased either and he was staring at my shoulder where Jacob's hand lay. As I awkwardly shuffled down the seat so Jacob could sit next to me, there was no exchange between the two men. The tension couldn't have been cut with a knife.

Obviously, narcissistic Rosalie didn't notice.

"So, Jacob, I heard you're a budding business man. What brings you over to England?" She asked, she looked like an impostor the way she leant over the table.

"Wow, Rosie, do you want a job for the ten o'clock news?" I asked sarcastically. I could have betted that most of the conversation would have been between Rosalie and I. She raised her eyebrows at my comment.

"Small talk is over-rated Aurora, if I was you I would take notes." I had obviously hit some kind of nerve and I couldn't hold my tongue to what she had said. I did not have doormat stamped over my head, I wouldn't put up with her attitude. Jesus, I now sounded like a mother.

"Rosalie, the only time I'll ever take notes from you is if I wanted tips to seduce my boss." And then I winked at Rosalie and Edward, so it looked like I was joking. Even though they both knew I weren't.

I heard laughter erupt from Jacob which didn't come across as the friendliest of sounds. Rosalie opened her mouth to retort something back to me but before she could have said anything, it was now Jacob's turn to save me.

"Well, Rosalie, to answer your question, I'm over in England to expand our business, I'm looking for suitable buildings for our company," he happily replied. At least I'd ended up with the nice, polite date. Not like Rosalie who seemed to have landed with a guy who had as much politeness as Simon Cowell.

"Oh I see, so Pacific hotels is doing well then?" Rosalie asked brightly, like she had totally forgotten our little exchange.

"Well, it's been doing pretty well," Jacob proudly declared.

"Not from what I've heard." Edward bitterly said, draining the last few drops of his drink. Even though I knew he was sat opposite me, I was still shocked to hear the sound of his voice. I didn't want anything bad to happen, although I did want to know how Jacob would respond.

Jacob raised his eyebrows – irritated. And then a malevolent smirk formed on his lips which I had never seen before. It didn't help the tension.

"Please, Cullen. Enlighten me."

Judging by Edward's facial expression, I could see how much he loved conflict as excitement was dancing in his eyes.

"I heard that there had been a lot of complaints due to health and safety and how it's not up to the right standards."

"Bullshit," Jacob coldly said. Rosalie and I were both taken aback by the icy tone of his voice. Should I have said something to break it up?

"Well, I heard that Pacific Hotels had caught the attention of that programme, y'know, America's Worst Hotels." He laughed callously at the end – the same laugh he'd used earlier today with Emmett.

"Well, I haven't heard that." I automatically defended Jacob. Why did Edward want to cause a scene?

Edward just looked at me, waiting for me to elaborate.

"Er, well…Rosalie said that the one she stayed at was....lush." It was the only thing I could have thought of to back Jacob up. I desperately looked at Rosalie for her confirmation.

She could obviously see that there was some sort of competition between us both and she loved that fact.

"Well, it was a couple of years ago now. I suppose it was _nice_," she falsely said. The look on her face was seriously grating on me: it was like a petulant teenager. She had just taken back what she had said earlier to benefit Edward, and now Edward was proudly wearing a smug grin. I tried to control myself, I couldn't understand why I was getting so worked up!

"Why was it just nice? Didn't they let you bring men back at night?" I tried to keep my voice in a calm manner. I loved Rosalie expression to my comment, her eyes amplified and her nostrils flared.

"Joking." I pursed my lips trying to suppress my laughter.

"I know," she deadpanned. I started to swallow larger quantities out of my glass now, just hoping this ordeal could end sooner.

Rosalie cleared her throat, indicating she was going to change the subject. "So, Jacob, where are you intending to take Aurora out tonight?"

"Well, it's a surprise." And then Jacob looked and me and winked. My smile started to glow on my face; nobody had ever treated me with a surprise on the first date. My previous boyfriend thought surprises should have been left for anniversaries and birthdays – if he had remembered.

When I turned back to Rosalie and Edward, Edward's eyes were glaring at Jacob which suddenly put me in an awkward position again. I rose my glass to my lips once again.

"So, Aurora, in other words he hasn't booked anywhere," Edward told me, curtly. To Rosalie, this would have probably sounded like banter; to Jacob it was probably a whole different kind of joke.

"I know how to treat a woman, Cullen," Jacob answered Edward, trying to sound casual but you could clearly hear the flaws of his attempt to do so.

"Next joke please," Edward laughed.

"I'm going to get more drinks, do you want one, 'Rora?" Rosalie asked me, probably trying to escape the situation. I shook my head to her question. I just wanted out.

I watched Rosalie sashay off to the bar, but Jacob's aggressive stare still lingered on Edward.

"You know what a joke is? You and your disgusting family," Jacob nearly spat out at him. I saw Edward flinch for a second, and then that cocky smile returned.

Confusion struck me like lightening, and I could feel my mouth gaping at Jacob's comment.

"Aurora, is this really your lucky man? I'm sure you could do better. _A lot better._"

"Edward, could you please jus--"

"C'mon Aurora, I think it's about time to go. I don't want to be seen with this moron." Jacob interrupted me, but as much as I hated being interrupted I didn't say anything. I obliged and stood up, quickly straightened my dress out, glad that we were finally going.

"That's right Jacob Black; leave when the time is right, it's what you're good at," Edward said, tauntingly.

We had only taken two steps and then Jacob swerved around and stampeded straight to where Edward was sitting. He leaned his hand on the table and the other one on top of the sofa. I hurried along after him. I couldn't see his face but I could hear what he was saying.

"Why don't you just grow up; you're a laughing stock and you know it. You think real businessmen go about and flaunt their money and hook up with women wherever they go? I really feel sorry for Miss. Hale. She's just another notch on an already worn out belt. Fuck, even you're dad's embarrassed of you and we're not the closest pals, but every function I ever see him at he would love to not talk about you for one night. So, do yourself a favour, Cullen, and back the fuck off."

There was at least a three second silence between the two men. Edward couldn't come up with anymore more cocky comments or mocking smiles. His eyes went into that intense fashion, which I found chilling and intimidating. I wondered how Jacob could stand there and be calmly confident.

And then, in one action, Edward sprung off his seat and got right up into Jacob's face. His eyes narrowed and I could hear a sound coming from his lips, but I couldn't decipher what he was saying. Jacob took a couple of steps back and then all off a sudden, Edward ejected his arms and forcefully shoved Jacob. As Jacob stumbled back, Edward started to shout a lot of profanities beginning with 'F' and 'C', and I just stood there, still in shock – just like the rest of the pub. When Jacob pulled himself together, he started to charge toward Edward and I knew he was going to hit him. I was faced with the choice whether to watch the fight or intervene. The first option seemed easier, but I already starting to feel the guilt scratching away at my insides.

I quickly parted Jacob and Edward and tried to drive Edward away from the situation.

"Edward, what are you doing?!"

Edward's eye were still filled with fury and then he looked down at me.

"I'm doing what's right," he told me through his teeth.

"Just calm the fuck down or you're going to get kicked out!"

He scrunched his eyes and took a second. When he came around his face softened.

"What are you doing with him?" His voice was both genuinely curious and exasperated.

I was taken aback by his question. And I actually thought it over – not that there was much to think about because with Jacob, it seemed easy and simple. It was the whole, boy meets girl scenario. With Edward, it seemed to have become some twisted affair based on revenge.

"I could say the same to you." I glanced at Rosalie.

"Fuck," he sighed, "you're not really going to go on a date with him?" His emerald eyes penetrated mine.

It was then that I noticed that my hands were still on his chest, and I could feel his muscles underneath my palms. I suddenly retrieved my hands back, like his body was scolding hot.

I swallowed. "Maybe. Why don't you buy the next issue of _Heat_ and find out, like I had to?" I coldly said and his eyes squinted at me, and with that I walked off and rejoined Jacob. I caught Rosalie's eye and she stared at me warily. She had a right to look at me like that. It must have looked like something was going off between us, either good or bad, so I was guessing her mind was racking through every type of situation.

"C'mon, Jacob, lets go," I said and he just stared at me like I had a third head.

"What was that about with Cullen?" He asked me, confused as to why I was even there in the first place and not in front of him.

"I was just giving him a piece of my mind." I suppose that wasn't an entire lie. I couldn't actually own up to why I went to him before Jacob.

"You didn't have to do that," he sighed, and we started to walk out of the door.

* * *

**New year reviews? Please? (:**


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